Estate Living Magazine The Slow Movement - Issue 39 March 2019 | Page 20

P R O P E R T Y
&
I N V E S T M E N T
Student propensity to live in PBSA 2010/11 to
2015/16, Cardiff*
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
University
Accommodation
Private
Accommodation
2010/2011
Parental/Own
Residence
HMO
2015/16
Source: HESA 2010-2015*Remaining percentages are unknown. In addition, students from the
University of South Wales have been excluded as the university was only founded in 2013
Location, location, location The nitty-gritty details
Crucially, students in Cardiff want to live in the city. With Cardiff
University located in the key CF10 postal code, just minutes from
the city centre and its shops, restaurants and landmarks, this is the
area where students want to be. • Vita Student Cardiff will consist of 401 apartments, and offer
a yield of 6.5% assured for three years. Prices start from just
£143,000.
• A 30% deposit secures a unit, and no further payment need be
made until completion in Q3 2021.
• Opening a bank account in the UK is difficult so, for South Africans
to purchase, it would be most convenient to open a GBP-based
bank account with a local bank here in South Africa.
• PBSAs cannot be bonded.
• The apartments come fully furnished and decorated, ready for
the students to move in.
• Be aware that you will have to pay income tax on any foreign
earnings.
• There are no restrictions on reselling – but only once the developer
has sold all the units. You can sell through the developer, which
will entail a 3% brokerage fee and 1% administration fee, all plus
VAT.
Yet the vast majority of students currently live in old-fashioned
residential areas of Cardiff, away from the universities and city
centre. In the Cathays district, for example, 70% of residents are
students, many of whom live in somewhat substandard houses of
multiple occupancy (HMOs) – the classic grubby student digs many
of us remember from the 20th century in places like Braamfontein,
Observatory and Grahamstown.
What this means is that now, more than ever, there is a huge demand
for high-quality PBSA in Cardiff city centre – creating a significant
investment opportunity in the UK’s strongest student property
investment city.
Vita Student Cardiff: what students – and investors –
have been waiting for
Bridging the gap between work and play, Vita Student Cardiff is the
location students are demanding – a location strategically chosen to
increase rental returns for investors. It is:
• right next to Cardiff University
• within five minutes’ walk of Cardiff Castle, Town Hall, National
Museum and main shopping streets
• in the very heart of the CF10 city centre postcode, an area with
an extremely low supply of student property.
This is the location that will command the highest demand and
highest rental premiums, driving the returns of all Vita Student
Cardiff’s property investors.
Cardiff: A market of huge investment potential
• At 8.5%, Cardiff had the fastest annual student rental
growth in 2017/18 of any UK city.
• The UK average rental growth during this period was just
2.55%.
• Cardiff has some of the UK’s highest annual yields from
student property, with average yields of 5.59% as opposed
to the UK average of just 4.72%.
• Best of all, there is a significant undersupply of PBSA –
25,354 students in Cardiff cannot access the modern,
purpose-built homes they are demanding.
selectproperty.com/vita-student