Why student accommodation blocks are the ones to watch

Proposed legislative changes to commercially run university student accommodation blocks in New Zealand are to be welcomed, says Bayleys national commercial and industrial director Ryan Johnson.

The Government has said interim changes will be in place by the start of the 2020 academic year, with a mandatory code of practice setting out required standards of welfare and pastoral care for boarder students in university halls.

The law changes focusing on students’ well-being were brought about following the death of a Canterbury University student whose passing went unnoticed for weeks.

Ryan Johnson said that from a property perspective, it was reassuring that the proposed new laws were focused on operational issues rather than structural or physical aspects of the country’s halls of residence.

“The Government’s suggested changes highlight that universities, and the private property owners leasing premises to tertiary education bodies, have been professionally diligent in the standard and quality of physical amenity they have delivered to the market,” Johnson said.

“Numerous universities and commercial property developers have been pro-active in building new stock and modernising existing premises to ensure high degrees of user satisfaction from student tenants.”

Johnson said that in Tauranga’s CBD, where the University of Waikato (UOW) has opened a new campus, the university leases local Durham Mews and Mayfair Court apartments from the private sector, but has a partnership with Quintex Properties to develop new facilities which UOW will lease back and manage.

In Hamilton, the university is building student apartments on its own land, but has said it is open to other models. It is looking to increase bed space in both Hamilton and Tauranga and is focusing on new-build options.

Wellington’s Victoria University has 15 residential student accommodation halls with a range of singleroom, twin-share, shared apartments, catered and self-catered options. Most halls are within walking distance of the three campuses and most are leased by the university from the private sector.

Ian Cassels, of The Wellington Company, champions the student accommodation sector in the capital and has been redeveloping existing commercial property stock into bed space.

Earlier this year, Cassels offered budget accommodation rates in an inner-city student hostel to students feeling the rental property squeeze.

This was only a temporary solution to the capital’s student accommodation woes, as Victoria University leases the building through the study year and was fully-committed from the start of the first semester.

However, it did highlight the need for more student-friendly accommodation in Wellington, particularly as tertiary education providers look to recruit more international students.

In 2016, developer Maurice Clark — well-known for his restoration of Wellington’s Old Public Trust building — bought a commercial tower at 143 Willis St and announced plans to upgrade and repurpose it as a student hall of residence.

Now known as Capital Hall, 10 residential floors of the building are leased to Victoria University to house over 300 students.

“Unis and developers have been pro-active in building new stock.”