Unite Books 79% of Student Bedrooms for 2026-27 Academic Year

Unite let 79 percent of its 72,000 student bedrooms for the 2026-27 academic year, down from 80 percent at the same point last year, The Times reported. The FTSE 250 company stood at 74 percent reservations at the end of its first quarter. 8 percent to 478p on the news and have dropped more than 40 percent in the past 12 months.

More than half of the reservations, 54 percent, fall under nomination agreements with universities that guarantee to lease a significant proportion of beds. Universities are set to confirm their requirements over the next couple of months. The other 25 percent came from direct sales, up from 22 percent last year, driven by targeted pricing initiatives in some markets.

Unite expects occupancy of between 93 percent and 96 percent next year and rental growth of between 2 percent and 3 percent. The company reiterated it expects to deliver at the lower end of the range for both occupancy and rental growth. After the pandemic its halls of residence were regularly more than 97 percent full.

Bookings for the Hello Student portfolio Unite acquired from Empiric Student Property stood at 47 percent for the 2026-27 academic year, down from 55 percent a year earlier. Unite experienced an accelerated bookings pace in recent weeks. The company is confident the Hello Student portfolio would reach occupancy of about 85 percent this year.

While Unite’s beds are typically filled by first-year students, Empiric’s Hello Student brand markets its buildings more to second and third-year students and postgraduates. Unite acquired its rival Empiric for £634 million last summer, cementing its position as Britain’s biggest student landlord.

Unite is repositioning its property portfolio towards the strongest universities by speeding up disposals of non-core halls located next to less sought-after universities.

The student accommodation market faces twin pressures from reduced demand from overseas postgraduates amid stricter visa requirements and more domestic students choosing to stay at home. Last autumn Unite announced plans to dispose of between £300 million and £400 million of accommodation.

It is aiming to sell another £500 million of buildings in the year ahead, having already sold more than £130 million.

This week it sold a 571-bed block near London St Pancras station for £186 million to its Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund, of which it owns 32 percent. The sale price was 1 percent below the book value of the building. Unite will use some of the proceeds to buy back another £65 million of its shares, having already bought back £100 million since the start of the year.

The company is reinvesting proceeds from the sales into share buybacks and university partnerships. Analysts at Deutsche Numis said the catch-up in reservations served as a positive data point but cautioned that the last 15-20 percent of occupancy was harder to fill.

Tim Leckie, an analyst at Panmure Liberum, said paying down debt would have been a far better use of proceeds than the share buyback.

Analysts criticised the move, saying external sales were needed to really prove value to a sceptical market.