UK Student Accomodation Remains Top Investment Asset for Malaysians

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- United Kingdom student accommodation remains the top property investment choice for Malaysian property investors, with the number increasing. This is even after the European Union Referendum results, according to CSI Properties (Cornerstone International). CSI Properties is a real estate consultancy marketing foreign property in Malaysia. "Throughout 2016, we saw a significant increase in the number of Malaysian investors interested in UK student accommodation. "Our sales volume increased 60 per cent compared to 2015, more than half of which are from UK real estate. "It is an indication that Malaysian investors are taking advantage of the current favourable exchange rate following Brexit," CSI Properties spokesperson, Virata Thaivasigamony said in a statement Friday. Additionally, he said, more than 65 per cent of the company's UK real estate sales came from UK student property alone. Thaivasigamony said consultancy enjoys a strong reputation among Malaysians as the only firm with the most extensive portfolio of student property investment projects in cities across the UK, thanks to its strong connections with reputable and listed UK developers. Its clientele ranges from purchasers of individual units with prices beginning at £50,000(£1=RM5.5), to high net worth and institutional investors making en-bloc purchases of £2.0 million to £10 million. "UK student accommodation has proven to be recession-proof, outperforming other traditional asset classes during the economic downturn. "We see it staying resilient through Brexit because of the ongoing demand for UK higher education, in addition to the weaker pound being more attractive to overseas students," he said. He added that the UK student accommodation sector had grown by 37 per cent since 2014, from £30.9 billion to £42.5 billion, making it one of the fastest growing asset classes in the UK property market. Meanwhile, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) reported that the number of students for 2016/2017 is set to exceed the previous year. At the start of the 2016/17 academic year, almost 522,000 students were enrolled in undergraduate courses at UK universities, an increase of more than 7,000 from 2015. -- BERNAMA