According to Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank “This is a trend that is leading to new development and high rentals throughout the developed world - wherever there are universities and technikons there is likely to be a shortage of student accommodation and a demand for it.”
 
Anne Porter Properties’; UK associates, Knight Frank, said Steward, are right now marketing 420 small en suite bedrooms in a new Leicester complex known as Benjamin Russell Court.
 
“Jane Pullen, head of Knight Frank’s student accommodation marketing team,” said Steward, “has complimented Derwent Living, the developers, on taking advantage of a strong market and has said that many other developers countrywide in the UK are doing much the same.
 
“Here in Cape Town,” said Steward, “it is possible to get returns of 7% to 9% on student accommodation from the outset if the investor buys shrewdly in well-maintained, older blocks or homes which, although comfortable, possibly lack the sophistication and the modern instalments of newer buildings.”
 
Steward warned, however, that in view of the forthcoming promulgation of the Consumer Protection Act in April, those renting out large homes and apartments for student use have to take care not to exaggerate or misrepresent the accommodation’s potential.
 
“Recently we have seen a number of advertisements claiming that certain homes can take eight to ten people.  As these homes are mostly zoned R4 (i.e. for family use), they would, in fact, have to be rezoned as lodgings or boarding houses in order to qualify for eight or more occupants,” said Steward.  “As a rezoning of this kind is extremely difficult to achieve, many of the landlords owning these properties currently being rented out to students are, in fact, breaking the law.
 
“This, however, does not alter the fact that student accommodation can give a very good return.  In at least two cases of which we know, four or five occupants are paying R5,000 per month each for the privilege of living in these homes.  This is seen by their parents as necessary to ensure that they can live comfortably, have a quiet place in which to study and, above all, will be protected by state-of-the-art safety precautions which are now so essential in high density Cape Peninsula Southern Suburbs.”