The rising demand for global higher education is continuing to attract institutional capital for European student accommodation investments, with transactions up 29 percent y-o-y in 2017 to some €13.6bn across the continent, according to the latest Cushman & Wakefield report. Among the fast-growing European markets is Germany, which has the largest student population in Europe, and has seen student numbers grow substantially relative to other countries over the past 10 years. Another market which has seen significant growth is Spain, where some €600m in transactions were completed in 2017. “We now live in a world where the student population is more internationally mobile, more flexible and ultimately has more choice about what and how to study. The result is that customer demand for student accommodation shows no signs of abating any time soon,” said Paddy Allen, partner at Cushman & Wakefield.
