Student landlord posts rises

The specialist student landlord company Unite posted an 8% rise in adjusted fully diluted NAV per share yesterday. It also reported a pre-tax profit of £12.1m compared with a loss of £29.4m a year earlier.

Revenue during the six-month period increased to £48.6m from £41.4m before. The student rental market has been one of the few property sectors to escape the 'property crash' with student property being perceived by many investors of having good stable cashflows and rising rents.

Unite reported rental growth for the first 6 months of 2.3% with rental growth of 3-4% expected for the full year. They expect similar growth levels in the year 2011/12.

"The student accommodation market continues to benefit from strong and growing underlying tenant demand coupled with a shortage of supply, which underpins it's strong fundamentals," the group said in a statement.

The demand/supply gap will widen in 2010/11, the group added.

The student landlord did concede that its prospects will be influenced by the higher education cuts although it maintains that demand in the student accommodation market still outstrips supply.

Student landlord insurance quote