The Student Accommodation Council has welcomed last week’s announcement that international student numbers will be limited to 270,000 for 2025, saying this sustainable number will give investors in accommodation the confidence they need to continue growing supply.
It also welcomed the Minister for Education’s focus on growing the supply of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) but warned state governments will have to come to the party to turbocharge the sector.
Torie Brown Executive Director of the Student Accommodation Council said it is heartening to see the Minister reveal sustainable student visa figures, enabling the industry to partner with universities in confidence to deliver more accommodation.
“Minister Clare has recognised that to grow the amount of student accommodation in Australia we need to see the higher education sector partner with the private sector to increase supply,” Ms Brown said.
“The Australian Government’s ambition to build more PBSA will only work if its state colleagues work with the sector to turbo-charge supply.
“The quickest way to do this by 2026 is to ensure students are taking up existing beds and incentivise further accommodation development.
“Ridiculously high state taxes on international investors who build PBSA continue to be a handbrake on new development. The Victorian and Queensland governments should come to the party by getting rid of these taxes on student accommodation development immediately.
“Investors have capital ready to deploy into developing new assets, but they have been waiting to see the size of the government’s student caps.
“The PBSA sector is reliant on a strong, sustainable pipeline of international students to underpin the viability of future projects. International students make up 74 per cent of our residents.”
A report released by the Student Accommodation Council in April showed the current pipeline of new purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) developments will not meet future needs – with the projected 7,770 new beds due to come online by 2026 not enough to alleviate demand in the private rental market.
Difficulties faced by the sector include slow planning systems, high property taxes and clunky state-based legislation.
