New student housing project acquired in Valencia

February 1st, 2023

  • €30M GDV project will deliver 221 new student beds close to five universities
  • Facilities include rooftop terrace, green spaces, canteens, gym and study rooms
  • Project will target maximum ESG credentials to be one of Europe’s most sustainable buildings
  • Valencia has the greatest student housing supply/demand mismatch of any Spanish city

We have further strengthened our position in the Iberian student housing market with the acquisition of a new €30M GDV project in Valencia, on Spain’s south-eastern coast, alongside our partners IP Investment Management and Heed Capital.

 

The project will deliver 221 new student beds on a c. 2,000 sqm site just outside the city centre, in newly regenerated Avenida del Puerto, a major avenue within walking distance of five universities: European University of Valencia, University of Valencia, University Polytechnic of Valencia, University Catholic of Valencia and International University of Valencia.

 

Featuring extensive shared modern facilities including a swimming pool, gym, rooftop terrace, green spaces, canteen and study rooms, the development will target maximum ESG credentials including BREEAM Outstanding, Fitwel 3*, and WiredScore platinum certifications. In addition, following our NZC2025 pledge, the scheme will seek Passivhaus status making it one of the most sustainable new buildings in Spain, and indeed continental Europe, on completion in early 2026.

 

Valencia is a tier one market in Spain, being the country’s third most popular university destination with strong underlying market fundamentals. During the 2021/22 academic year, the total student population was over 103,000 students with international students accounting for approximately 12% of the total. In addition, Valencia recorded the highest YoY student enrolment growth of all provinces at 2.9%.

According to JLL’s Student Housing Report published in November 2022, Valencia is the city with the lowest PBSA stock level and highest supply/demand mismatch in the entire Spanish market, with an estimated 28:1 ratio of students in need of housing to beds, making it the ideal location for our eleventh student housing project since we launched in Iberia in 2018.

 

We have also closed €7.5 million development financing with Alteralia Real Estate Debt, a fund managed by Alantra, to finance the development of our student housing project in Porto, Portugal. The Porto project is set to open in January 2024, in time for the second semester start of the 2024/25 academic year. The 151-bed BREEAM Outstanding-rated asset will be operated under our Amro Estudiantes brand.

 

Raj Kotecha, Co-Founder and CEO of Amro Partners said: “We are delighted to undertake our third transaction with IPIM. This is the first of several acquisitions we expect to announce in the coming months as we scale up our presence in the European PBSA sector. The Iberian student housing market remains structurally undersupplied and despite challenging market conditions we’re continuing to see attractive investment opportunities in cities such as Valencia where demand is strong and growing.”