City has more empty student flats than ever - but these are still in the pipeline

ACCOMMODATION MARKET IS ‘ENTERING NEW PHASE’

- By GEORGE PALMER-SOADY

NOTTINGHAM’S student accommodation is entering a “new phase” as figures show the highest number of empty flats since records began.

Despite the city now having more purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) buildings than ever before - and significant developments still in the pipeline - the council says “future demand remains uncertain”

In a recent report ahead of a meeting on Monday, the authority has been told to focus less on building new student accommodation made up of studio flats.

Instead, the council should look at different types of student living which tackle many of the issues currently leading to empty flats, says a planning officer.

The vacancy rates at PBSA buildings have rapidly risen from before 2023, when figures were below one per cent, to 16.1 per cent in the most recent records.

The Labour-run authority, which had previously wanted to get more students living in PBSA rather than Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), has been told this is due to a number of factors.

The number of full-time students requiring accommodation within the city has dropped by more than 10,000 in the space of three years to 41,314.

More students commuting from home or living outside the city, a “declining international postgraduate recruitment” partly linked to visa changes and “wider cost-of-living pressures” are among the issues leading to empty flats.

The report states that studio flats have the highest vacancy rates, with 16.1 per cent of this type of student accommodation sitting empty in the 2025/26 academic year.

The news comes amid significant financial difficulties for the University of Nottingham which, after slashing the jobs of more than 300 support workers and putting two of its campuses up for sale, is set to put hundreds of academics at risk of redundancy as it continues drastic cost-cutting measures amid worries it will run out of money by late 2030.