Nearly ۷۰ students in Dundee have been left scrambling to find accommodation for this academic year after the latest in a string of university housing schemes went bust amid severe financial strain on the sector.
Students in the city have been forced to find alternative housing and rapidly move their possessions as term begins this month after the collapse of the owner of Marketgait Apartments, a city centre block.
The company filed for administration in mid-July with ۶۸ rooms let. Just weeks earlier it had been urging students to quickly secure its “perfect homes” in online marketing.
It is further evidence of a crisis in the UK student housing sector, with companies going bust or disposing of properties owing to to a combination of poor demand or oversupply in different regions.
Accommodation providers are grappling with falling international student numbers, down for a third year; a cost of living squeeze; and higher borrowing and build costs, exacerbated by the Iran war, affecting upgrades at older properties.
While domestic student numbers are at a record high, a growing proportion live at home, mostly because of the cost of renting, in what has been called “the rise of the commuter student”.
A boom in new-build student housing in recent years led to too many tower blocks in places such as Coventry, Leeds and Nottingham. Glasgow, Bristol and London still face shortages, with a general lack of affordable rooms.
Modern, purpose-built housing tends to command higher rents than student halls on campus or private rooms, and is out of reach for many domestic students, with wealthier overseas students the main occupants.
Three weeks before the then owners filed for administration, Marketgait Apartments in Dundee was still being promoted to students.
The ۱۱۶-room building, less than ۱۰-minute walk from Abertay and Dundee universities, had a concierge and a shared lounge with a pool table. The weekly rent was pitched at £۱۹۹ for a studio and £۱۶۵ for an en suite room.
“Looking for your perfect student home in Dundee?” the operator, Prestige Student Living, wrote on Facebook on ۲۳ June. “Marketgait Apartments still have rooms available – but not for long! Secure your spot today and avoid missing out on a prime location, modern living, and everything you need right on your doorstep. Book now before it’s gone!”
On ۱۵ July, however, partners from FRP Advisory were appointed to the Jersey-based special purpose vehicle that owns the redbrick block after its owners, the real estate manager ۹۰ North and Kuwaiti investment company Rasameel, failed to repay a £۵.۷m loan against the property.
Falling student numbers at the building led to financial losses, leaving the company unable to fund essential fire safety remedial works. The building remains closed while its new owner, ATK Property, carries out the work.
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James Elliot, ۲۱, who recently graduated from Dundee university, said he knew people living in Margetgait who had to move out and were “anxious, stressed and shocked”.
“A lot of the students had contracts to stay there next year, but they were just told they had to leave in a month, you need to be out, you need to move your things out.” Students were helped to book alternative accommodation.
Elliot, a housing activist and member of Scotland’s tenants’ and community union Living Rent, added: “Because so many international students were away back home, they couldn’t do that in person. They had all of their belongings there for next year, clothes, pots and pans, everything they needed for uni. So they had to pay a fee for a third party to store their things for them.”
Prestige said the lets in place when Marketgait went into administration included ۲۷ students who had renewed their contracts for the ۲۰۲۶-۲۷ academic year. Of those, ۱۷ had already moved out for the summer. Six others asked Prestige for details of a moving company and paid for it themselves.
A Prestige spokesperson said the decision and subsequent closure was beyond the managing agent’s control. “Our team took immediate action to notify students, help them secure alternative accommodation in Dundee and return all payments made to us. We deeply sympathise with the students affected by the news and will continue to do all we can to support them.”
This is the latest failure in the sector. Amare Students, which ran a ۶۴-room student accommodation block in Birmingham, went into administration in January. Alma Place, a ۳۹۳-room block in Belfast, was acquired by London-based investors the same month, just over a year after going into receivership.
Several struggling housing providers have sought planning permission to open up their buildings to non-students, including a ۹۱-room block in Coventry that is in receivership. Receivers want to let ۵۰ rooms to city workers instead of students.
Unite Group, the UK’s largest developer and manager of student accommodation, is accelerating a programme of selling off unwanted blocks, with ۱۵,۰۰۰ to ۲۰,۰۰۰ beds earmarked for sale, after it slumped to a £۴۱۸m loss in the first half of the year. Its portfolio will slim down to ۵۵,۰۰۰-۶۰,۰۰۰ beds in ۲۰ cities, compared with ۲۹ at present, “to increase alignment to the UK’s strongest universities, where student demand is robust and growing”.
