The portfolio includes 999 beds across five sites

Urbanite Living has placed a portfolio of five freehold, purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) assets on the market for sale with an asking price of £130m.

All five schemes comprising 999 beds are primely located in the key Russell Group student cities of Leeds, York, Sheffield, and Glasgow, representing a strong geographical spread across four major educational hubs.

The portfolio offers a combination of existing operational assets and new-build schemes due for occupation during 2024.

And, with the combined estate currently achieving over £7.5m net rent role, over 50% of the beds are already under a minimum of three to five years nomination agreements with local universities.

The portfolio includes The Coal Yard in central York, which is already operational with 189 ensuite cluster and studio units.

Well connected

In Leeds, the Leatherworks provides 460 cluster bedrooms within close proximity to both universities, and 26 Great George Street is currently under construction to provide 54 studio bedrooms in the city centre by the end of 2024.

And Electric Press in Sheffield is a well-connected development of 125 cluster and two studio flats.

Currently under construction, Clyde Court will provide 169 studio bedrooms as part of a prime city centre site redevelopment next to the river Clyde.

All five schemes provide best-in-class facilities on site including

study lounges, cinemas, gyms, onsite cafes, social media studios, gaming lounges, and tech-enabled meeting rooms.

Energy efficient

Urbanite has committed to enhancing its developments with energy-saving monitoring equipment and has installed 250kwp of rooftop solar over the past 12 months, generating over 15% of the portfolio’s annual electricity requirements.

Urbanite has developed the portfolio over the last five years and is now selling the assets to recycle capital into its next ventures.

These include plans to deliver its £400m regeneration scheme on the former Yorkshire Post Newspapers site in Leeds city centre

Urbanite is also currently exploring land sale and forward funding options to deliver up to 1,700 student beds and 348 build-to-rent (BTR) apartments on the strategically-important gateway site.

Urbanite founder, Daniel Newett, said: “We are excited to bring this portfolio to market after five years of regenerating disused properties or land.

High demand

“Our investments have been well considered in providing much-needed, purpose-built student accommodation in prime locations where demand consistently outweighs supply.”

London-based real estate advisors, Gerald Eve, has been appointed to market the portfolio.

Alexander Kitts, associate partner, said: “We are pleased to represent Urbanite in marketing a very strong portfolio of assets in key performing university cities of international repute.

“The student housing market is highly resilient, as demonstrated by its counter-cyclical nature, with student numbers growing at record rates across the nation.

“Subsequently, PBSA is underpinned by a strong occupational market, which continues to attract a wide range of investors.”