14% of students want property in uni town

Tuesday, 23, Oct 2007 09:16

As the new term starts it has been revealed up to 14 per cent of all students in the UK are considering buying a property in their university town.

This is according to new research from Abbey, and equates to some 154,000 students who are willing to move out of student accommodation and purchase their own property while still in education.

The news comes despite growing fears of a housing slowdown in the coming months.

The figures also come in addition to the 88,000 university students who already own their own property.

Of the 154,000 who wished to buy their own property, some 44,000 students are considering buying with friends, 66,000 are considering an individual purchase and a further 44,000 want to buy a property single-handedly.

Furthermore, of the 88,000 who already own their own property, three-quarters have made the purchase with their friends or on their own, while only the remaining quarter live in property owned by their parents.

"Britain's student population continues to be a source of income for buy-to-let property investors, many of whom are parents of the students or the students themselves," commented Nici Audhlam Gardiner, head of mortgages at Abbey.

"The key issue with any mortgage, but a buy-to-let one in particular, is affordability. People considering it need to make sure that they can afford the mortgage payments plus any maintenance costs, service charges and down-time between tenancies that they will also need to cover."