MORE than 10,000 students are living in potential family homes, according to a new report.

The study by Savills suggests that at least 1,400 family homes “could be unlocked” with the creation of more university-managed student accommodation.

The estate agents’ report says: “This would require the delivery of an additional 7,100 student beds of a sufficient quality and appropriate price to attract students out of the HMO [housing of multiple occupation] market.”

According to a government-backed Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) published in March, the county needs 100,000 new homes by 2031. Oxford’s need is thought to be 1,400 homes per year.

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Isobel Thompson, 20, a second-year Oxford Brookes student living in an HMO, said: “If they built more student halls that would alleviate some housing but whether students will want to live in them I don’t know.

“I think second years would always go for houses, just because it’s more independent and that’s part of university life. Student accommodation is also so expensive.”

The Savills report was commissioned by Doric, the joint developer, along with Mace, behind the £100m Botley regeneration scheme.

As well as a hotel, gym, cinema, health centre and 50 flats, there will be 525 new student rooms – enough to free up 50 family homes, it says.

Real estate investment management firm Jones Lang Lasalle commissioned a similar report, which estimated there are 13,000 students outside university accommodation.

Director Richard Taylerson claimed of about 32,000 full-time students at Oxford and Oxford Brookes Universities, 41 per cent could not obtain a place in well-managed, purpose-built accommodation: “These students have to find alternative accommodation, usually in family homes, pushing local people out of the market and contributing to Oxford’s housing shortage.”

But Oxford City Council leader Bob Price believed the figure was closer to 6,000 students, and that creating more student beds was not a solution.

He said: “It’s a theoretical number that doesn’t really meet the needs of the city.

“There is a huge number of young people living with their parents who want to get on the property ladder; the Savills report doesn’t really address that.”

Matt Pickles, a spokesman for Oxford University, also disputed the figures, saying: “It is a major priority of the university and colleges to provide accommodation for as many students as possible and we have made significant investments in providing additional accommodation over the years. We do not recognise the number suggested in this report, which is more than double the figure in the city council’s annual monitoring report.”

Anne Gwinnett, from Oxford Brookes, said it continually reviews its accommodation provision.

 

University of Oxford

  • Total full-time students: 18,760
  • Total student beds: 11,490
  • Number of students outside university accommodation (HMOs or living with parents): 7,270
  • The report says statistics for Oxford University are estimated as information is not publicly accessible
  • Oxford Brookes 
  • Total full-time students: 13,450
  • Total student beds: 3,859
  • Number of students outside university accommodation (HMOs or living with parents): 9,681

 

 

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