February 8th, 2022
- Amro plans to enter the student housing market in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in next 12 months
- Burgeoning student populations and lack of modern purpose-built student housing presents strong opportunity for growth
- We are targeting a doubling of our existing European PBSA portfolio from 2,500 units to 5,000 by 2024, through acquisitions in new markets and further growth in Iberia
- Some 2.6 million more student beds are needed in Europe’s main student cities to meet demand
Amro Partners is targeting a major expansion of its European purpose-built student housing (PBSA) business to capture early market share arising from a severe shortage of dedicated student beds, against a backdrop of rising student populations.
We are currently analysing a number of acquisition opportunities ranging in size from 150 – 500 beds in cities with healthy and growing student populations, and plan to announce new PBSA acquisitions in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in 2022.
We’re proud that our portfolio is being developed to be the leading portfolio of residential assets in Europe from an ESG perspective, with all projects targeting BREEAM Outstanding and aiming to be among the most sustainable buildings in the country in completion.
Raj Kotecha, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Amro Partners, said: “We are currently analysing several promising opportunities in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany where student numbers are rising rapidly and it’s clear there’s a serious shortage of the kind of high-quality, professionally managed accommodation found in the UK.
Our expansion into the Iberian PBSA market has been very successful and we are well positioned to bring our market leading operational, investment and ESG capabilities to new countries that we believe are ripe for growth.”
JLL estimates approximately 2.6 million more student beds are needed in Europe’s main student centres to meet existing demand but growing student numbers are set to push the shortage even higher.
According to the Bonard Student Housing Annual Report 2021, the existing PBSA offering in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany consists of 12k, 112k, 204k units respectively, representing provision rates of 5-13% – far away from the c. 35% in the UK market.
Read next
Planning approved for Amro’s micro-living debut in Kingston
January 24th, 2022