European cities prepare to attract and retain the growing number of international students
More than 150 student accommodation industry organizations gathered today at The Class Conference in Madrid to discuss the solutions for the current student housing crisis.
Europe's largest rental platform HousingAnywhere proposes 3 keys to unlock both student mobility and talent retention challenges.
Madrid, 18 November 2022 - More than 150 leading organizations in the co-creating, student living, working and learning ecosystem, including HousingAnywhere, Europe's largest rental accommodation platform, gathered at The Class Conference, the most celebrated student housing annual event in Europe. It is the first time that The Class Conference is hosted in a Spanish city, Madrid, involving renowned global and European names ranging from real estate investors, developers and operators, as well as tech solution providers, universities, city officials, architects and urban planners.
Madrid, and other key university cities in Spain such as Barcelona or Valencia, have been accelerating their success of attracting global talents for many years thus symbolizing an awakening message: when countries and cities aim to be successful in global talents attraction, they should be ready to accommodate them to stay by putting housing at the center before jumping into premature celebration.
The Class Conference bluntly addresses the fundamental cause of the continuous price increase of student housing, which is the structural lack of supply escalating the potential incapability of cities to sustainably accommodate global talents, whether it is local or international, to live, work and learn. According to HousingAnywhere's latest Q3 2022 International Rent Index, the average rental price in major European cities has risen by 16.5% compared to last year. While the demand is continuously growing due to the young generation’s increasing desire to choose where they want to live, the lack of supply is causing the market to be heavily supply driven, pushing renting requirements to be almost impossible to reach for the students in the most popular study destinations.
Student mobility and talent retention are two sides of the same coin. With the aim of attracting talent, many cities have lost sight of the challenge of how to retain talent in cities when the supply of rental accommodation is as tight as it is today. The retention of talent requires the attention of the complex web of stakeholders as policies that are interrelated and decisions are codependent, said Djordy Seelmann, CEO of HousingAnywhere.
In 2022, students from all over the world have reported problems finding available, affordable and accessible housing in countries such as Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, among others. Some students were even unable to start their 2022-2023 academic year due to the inability to secure accommodation. What is striking is that this is not new, but just highly intensified phenomena, highlighting once again the depth and width of the student housing crisis in Europe.
What are the key ingredients for students to thrive in university cities? Perhaps all that's needed is serendipity and connection”, states Frank Uffen, Co-Founder of The Class Foundation. “This is exactly what we're here to discuss at The Class Conference '22. We have a shared responsibility for the future generation, and there's a lot still to be done in designing and maintaining spaces that inspire and trigger curiosity in the next generations. Now is the time for our community to prioritize and translate our visions into actions."
3 keys for cities to unlock both student mobility and talent retention challenges
1. Evidential data-driven projections powered by technology__
Whenever people want to stay or move, they need a place to live. However, cities lack collaborative and comprehensive data as evidence. That’s where technology can add great value. HousingAnywhere believes data holds the key and has been accumulating vast evidential data since their foundation 13 years ago, across Europe, both on supply and demand, focusing on international mobility. The data powers the company to help over 100,000 people find housing with 100% tech solutions geared to meet the changing needs and wants of the students & young professionals, property owners and 300+ partner universities.
An increasing number of universities have been alerting international students not to come without secured accommodation. This has recently been the case for many cities in the Netherlands, such as Amsterdam with its large international study offer. But also in Spain, students are increasingly reporting difficulties in finding places in large cities such as Madrid and Barcelona. The data is key to anticipating cities' capacities and students' mobility expectations.
2. Living spaces for students & young professionals
In this edition of The Class Conference, the need to build housing tailored for students and young professionals has been emphasized now more than ever, with some highlights on the rising trends of new living concepts, such as co-living. According to data from CBRE, a real estate consultancy that also participated in The Class Conference, during the first half of 2022, investment in co-living was 233 million euros, accounting for 18% of total investment in Living and quintupling the investment captured by this segment in Spain in 2021.
In this regard, Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) will be a key element in the coming years, as, according to data from the British real estate services company Savills, the number of international students will have increased by 5.8% by 2027, so that more and more diverse options will be needed to accommodate international talent.
3. Collective solutions proposed with shared accountability
"The fundamental cause of the current housing crisis is structural lack of supply. This conference successfully brought so many different stakeholders together. It is time for all of us to be ambitious, because we can, and take ownership of this challenge. We need to strive for what we call Triple A for rentals: Availability, Affordability and Accessibility. And we can go even further, and add a fourth A: Accountability. The challenges of today are asking all of us to step it up to find the solutions for tomorrow, for our students, our future," says Djordy Seelmann, CEO of HousingAnywhere. "From institutions to tech platforms that connect potential tenants with accommodation providers, from builders to landlords and universities, a complex problem requires a joint and transnational response, adds Seelmann.
Many of the European university cities are in distress. Housing stock has not caught up with a world that has turned increasingly mobile. Rent prices are rising faster than inflation. Students are putting their dreams on hold, as there is too little accommodation available in their university city. Accommodation options are fragmented across a rental market that is still intransparent. “It is time for cities and interrelated stakeholders to take the responsibility for the future of the young generation and empower them with the choices for them to make well-informed decisions about their future of living” states Djordy Seelmann.
About HousingAnywhere
HousingAnywhere is Europe’s largest rental accommodation marketplace. With the full ownership of Kamernet and the acquisition of majority stakes of Studapart, the company represents 20 million+ yearly unique visitors, 160,000+ properties available for rent and 96,000+ tenants finding their new homes in Europe, based on the 2021 performance. Young professionals and students, mostly aged between 18 and 35, looking to rent a home are matched with accommodation providers; ranging from private real estate owners to large-scale property managers. Through its advanced platform, tenants typically book for longer stays outside of their country of origin and rent accommodation for 3 to 12 months. The company aims to help 130,000+ people find a home in Europe in 2022. The Rotterdam-based technology scale-up currently employs 260 people.
Note for press
For more information or to request visuals, please contact Nomzamo Moalusi, Brand and Communications Manager - press@housinganywhere.com.
