Interestingly rent costs have remained the same for the past two years, with our recent ‘What Students Seek Survey’ showing that the most common rental amount for students is between £100-£119 per week.
Results from our survey show that 72% of students rent fall between £80 and £139 per week with 3% of students paying no rent at all and 6% paying under £50 per week. Almost 48% of the variance in accommodation costs is due to the type of accommodation the student is living in, for example, private halls, privately rented house, family home and university halls.
Rent costs also vary depending on the region of accommodation, London rental costs are marginally more expensive where as the North East is slightly cheaper, which will likely be taken into account when students choose what university to attend and what area to live in.
Our report also highlights that 63% of students have bills included in their rent. Those with bills included are likely to pay slightly more for their rent, but the difference is very small suggesting that those with bills included are not really paying much more rent than those without bills included.
The results from our ‘What Students Seek’ report also shows that 45% of students feel that their accommodation is good value for money, but 36% feel that their accommodation is not value for money. There is an interesting regional effect, as those in Wales are much more likely to see their accommodation as good value for money than any other region. The average rents in Wales were not substantially different to anywhere else in the UK, so it’s interesting to see that students in Wales see their accommodation as good value for money which could be down to the quality of the accommodation they are living in.
When given the opportunity to comment about the value for money of their property a number of students suggested that although their property was satisfactory, they felt the price was too high;
“It is too expensive for what it is, and the landlord provides a shockingly bad service”, another student commented “I feel the property is in great condition and bills are included, However, the price is high for what I believe student accommodation should cost, my loans do not cover it.”
Many students also commented on issues with management of the property which affected their view of it’s value: “Due to the amount of issues we have had in the house, the landlord and company we are with are not doing anything about it even when they’ve seen the problems.”
Other students comments:
“The Letting Agency take at least a month to fix things and we have to email and call them a hundred times first! They even ignore us when we go in and tell them in person.”
The report suggests that students rate their accommodation better value for money if their accommodation is satisfactory with a reasonable rent cost and better response rates from their landlord.
If you’d like to read the full ‘What Students Seek Report’, please visit glide.co.uk where you can download a copy.