Students Housing to Witness 6 lakh Additional Beds by 2020-23

The world’s largest real estate consulting firm, Student Accommodation Provider Association of India (SAPFI) and CBRE has recently released the findings of its research on Student Housing – an emerging real estate segment in the country. 

The report titled - ‘The Herald of a New Chapter: Student Accommodation in India’, suggests that the Student Housing/Co-Living space may witness an addition of around 600,000 additional beds in the next 3-4 years across the country. More than USD 700 million has already been committed (between 2017-2019 YTD) as investments in the student housing/co-living sector by players such as Warburg Pincus, Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs, HDFC amongst others.

The SAPFI-CBRE report was unveiled by Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India, in presence of Harish Nair, Executive Director, Consulting & Valuations, CBRE, along with Kaushal Mahan, Convener, Student Accommodation Providers of India (SAPFI).

On the occasion of unveiling of the report, Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO, India, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa, CBRE said “Increased mobility among students and growing number of private higher education institutions has led to the emergence of new educational hubs in the country. Larger states such as Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh account for a major share in colleges across the country. Most of these states have witnessed a steady pace of student enrolment in the last few years. Consequently, cities such as Bangalore, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Pune, Nagpur and Mumbai housing prominent educational institutions have emerged as educational hubs.” 

Kaushal Mahan, Convener, Student Accommodation Providers of India (SAPFI) said “Our goal is to support the growing needs of India’s large student community for high quality and secure accommodation. Standardization of the sector through minimum standard regulations and a separate definition as a distinguished asset class holds the key to unlocking the potential of professionally managed student accommodation sector in the country.”

While releasing the report, Harish Nair, Executive Director, Consulting & Valuations, CBRE, said “Student housing provides a great potential due to the increasing student population that travels to different cities due to educational requirements. The rising influx of migrant students in a few states have created strong demand for student accommodation, and the campus facilities at educational institutions are unable to cater to this demand. With the government targeting a GER of 30% by 2020-21, the segment provides a huge potential for developers to tap into this opportunity and provide facilities in accordance with the varying needs of the student”.