The ‘dire’ student housing crisis in Manchester is ‘only going to get worse’, a property expert has warned.
There are 4,000 more students than there are rooms available in halls of residence, shared houses, and private purpose-built student accommodation, new data seen by the MEN from StuRents, a student property search site, shows. That’s a gap of seven per cent.
To compound matters, four in five newly-built student rooms cost more than the average maintenance loan. Of all student accommodation in the city, 37 percent of rooms are out of reach to the average student.
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It’s led Michael Rainsford, the co-founder at StuRents, to paint a ‘dire’ picture for students coming to Manchester, which is home to the UK’s largest single-site university — the University of Manchester, with roughly 40,000 students. Manchester Metropolitan University is also large, with around 32,000.
“The state of the student housing market in Manchester is dire,” Rainsford said. “There is a huge shortfall in supply that is only going to get worse - which is pushing up prices for students.
“Maintenance loans are supposed to cover your living costs, including food and utilities. Yet they are being completely eaten up by rent - forcing students to turn to second jobs or their parents to get by.
“Manchester's status as a top student city is a key part of its appeal - and attracting and retaining students is an important driver of its economy. It's therefore imperative that the student housing crisis here is sorted out.
"It shouldn't be allowed that students apply to a university only to be told that they'll be living in a neighbouring city and commuting in - as happened in Manchester this year.
“Universities should be providing transparent information to prospective students before they apply on the supply and affordability of housing - not just for halls but for private housing too - so they can be sure of somewhere to live throughout their degree. We also need to up the supply of affordable student homes in Manchester.
"The delivery of new student properties has been slowing – partly due to rising construction costs and low availability of sites – which has worsened the problems.”
The data comes as first-year students, in some circumstances, were offered thousands of pounds at the University of Manchester to give up their place in halls. A total of 157 students took up the offer, a spokesperson for UoM said.
Their statement added: "All students who applied for University accommodation under the Accommodation Guarantee were successfully offered accommodation in Manchester. This was good news following us writing to a number of students to outline alternative accommodation options, due to a national unprecedented demand for University-provided accommodation.
"157 students took up an offer of cancelling their accommodation in return for a payment of £2,500 which directly enabled us to allocate the extra rooms needed. We understand that this has been an incredibly anxious time for our students and their families and thank every one of them for their patience and understanding."
In September, Manchester Metropolitan students were offered £100 per week to cancel their rooms. The MEN asked MMU how many students took up that offer, but did not have data to hand by the time of publication.
Manchester Metropolitan University have been approached for comment.
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