Investment model powers student homes

An investment company is calling for Kiwi universities to team up with private firms to raise the quality of student accommodation.

Every new academic year, hundreds of international and domestic students struggle to find decent houses and rooms to stay in while they study.

But Steven Proctor of investment company Morrison & Co’s Public Infrastructure Partners (PIP) Fund, said investment and lease deals were producing more, and higher quality student accommodation for many of top Australian universities, and similar arrangements could now help solve the annual panic in New

Students are great quality renters.

Zealand.

They could also ease the burden of accommodation costs on hardpressed university budgets, leaving more cash to invest in education, he said.

The PIP Fund’s special ‘‘concession’’ arrangement with Woollangong University in New South Wales has delivered new student halls, the second phase of which will be released at the end of the year.

‘‘Partnerships can produce accommodation which uses better materials, is better designed and better managed,’’ said Proctor.

Typically, the Morrison & Co’s PIP Fund takes over existing student buildings and refurbishes them to a high standard. The company then enjoys the proceeds of a 30-year leasing arrangement, where the Fund benefits from rental revenues. At the end of the lease, the buildings are returned to the university.

‘‘We have an asset which is saleable to renters,’’ said Proctor. ‘‘Students are great quality renters because they are educated kids who generally look after the property.’’

Morrison & Co’s PIP Fund is already helping to build schools in Auckland, Christchurch, Rolleston and Hobsonville on Auckland’s North Shore.

Proctor believes the country’s universities should consider similar partnerships.

Student accommodation at Wollongong University, NSW, is aimed at making the university experience more appealing to domestic and international students.