I met a landlord who had trouble filling a shared 3 bedroom house in Hillsborough for £40 a week plus bills (share with one other). It was void for a few weeks.

I was pretty amazed at this given the fantastically low price, but another guy was telling me that now the universities have built more student accomodation, there is a surplus and landlords are having trouble finding tenants.

1) Is there a surplus of student accomodation in Sheffield now?
2) Is there generally a surplus of rented accomodation in Sheffield?
3) What do any Sheffield property maven's (experts) think about future trends for the rented property sector here? Strong or weak?

Whilst the current circumstances of fees persists, only precious little darlings funded by 'Daddy' or 'Papa' can afford to live away from home (generalising, I know :rolleyes: ). This means there is a higher demand for higher quality student properties and the slums that some of us were forced to rent in the eighties and nineties are disappearing as landlords realise the value of their properties through the sale of said slums.

Peruse the 'accommodation wanted' ads for evidence.

question is are there enough of these precious little darlings to create strong demand for the properties landlords want to rent out?

Get good at what you do and you'll succeed :thumbsup:

Read the 'wanted' ads in accommodation to find your answers.

The accomodation wanted ads will tell me if that there are people looking.
The accomodation offered ads will tell me that there are people letting out.
But it is difficult to tell from them what the ratio is of letters to renters and whether there is a surplus.

Several years ago first year students who came to Sheffield found themselves being put up in 'emergency accomadation' basically the TV room or common room in the halls of residence. They then had to find a flat or bed sit usually in one of the less desirable locations [for students] in the city. However six months ago I was looking for a friend for a small flat or similar and was surprised to see that there was a lot of places available including several in student area's, Hunters Bar and Walkley for example. The prices seemed to be rrasonable so I didn't understand. One other thing I noticed was the number of students looking for another person to share in a 3/4 bed house. I can only assume by this that there is now more accomadation than there are students, maybe lots of rich parents are buying properties for their little darlings to live in?

I also noticed in the new issue of the Sheffield events listing periodical that they have an article about huge new student accomodation called something like "the Forge" near Ecclesall Road.
This alone probably is helping to flood the market.
All it takes is a few more of these and these student landlords will be out of business.
The Forge was pretty reasonable too being about £75 including the bills.
Most private landlords would struggle to compete, and the students have the advantage of a ready made social life on their doorsteps.
I suppose some students will always want to do their thing in a private rented house, but I suspect life is getting harder for student landlords.
However I am just guessing.
The previous post seems to reinforce what I was picking up though

The Forge will not be ready for quite a while but when completed will accommodate 1000 students. Obviously this will make a difference.

I let out to students and professionals and I get a lot of interest. My places are all fairly new and well furnished. I think people are more choosy now - for a good thing - and that's why mine let well.

It is changing, and as has been said, it's the lower end of the market that is and will continue to suffer.

Location is now very important to students, and Hillsborough just doesn't fit the bill these days.

The newer, larger purpose built accomodtion is very popular and generally 100% full with waiting lists. More are planned. Price isn't much of an issue. Why pay £40 pw for 52 weeks plus bills to live in a shared dump when you can live in modern ensuite accommodaiton in the middle of the city for £70pw for 42 weeks including the bills?

The days of mass housing for students in terraces are over, and some landlords are realising this now.

I have to mates that let to students and the general concesus is that the days of the Rigsby landlord are over. Students find that university provided accomodation with all its modern conveniences [internet links, laundry facilities etc ] are preferable to some grotty terrace with woodchip on the walls where the heating breaks down in winter and you can't get hold of the landlord because he's in Tenerife.
Also it's true that students are no longer prepared to travel far hence the number of properties to let in what were once popular student areas [Abbeydale Road etc]

http://www.unite-students.co.uk/ACCOMMODATION.information/Sheffield/The_Forge/default.html

The Forge. I hadn't realised how big that thing is - 1143 rooms, which will replace, I dunno, say 250 shared houses?

So either the student population is still going up or there will be a lot of empty terraces in Walkley.

I can't understand why house prices for terraces aren't dropping as landlords bail out. I assume that if Unite get this one to work then it ill be fairly simple to get planning for another whopping student block.

So what happens to all those student terraces that'll be empty in 9 months time?

I have just looked at the website that Grigri put on. As I understand it the rents are from £76.50 a week and this is for a 'standard room... 6 beds'

Does this mean 6 people are sharing a room?

If so I can't see that being very popular!

Originally posted by vision

Does this mean 6 people are sharing a room?

If so I can't see that being very popular!

No - 6 sharing an apartment and it's facilities (kitchen and bathroom), but each has an individual bedroom. See the 'Features' page on the website. OK if you like communal living I suppose.

And no baths in the bathrooms - showers only. The girls won't like that ;)

it's gona look great there when it's finished, instead of this nice looking building (bed) we get a great big block of flats gona make living in that end of sharrow/london road horrible

Can it make that end of London Road look any worse than it does already

ok so it doesn't look great but i think bed looks nicer then another block class fronted flats

The shared facility only extends to the kitchen / living area.

Each bedroom has its own en-suite bathroom and toilet.

Originally posted by jogenn
The accomodation wanted ads will tell me if that there are people looking.
The accomodation offered ads will tell me that there are people letting out.
But it is difficult to tell from them what the ratio is of letters to renters and whether there is a surplus.

The 'wanted' ads tell you what people want :thumbsup:
The ratio is irrelevant if you are offering the right product in the right market at the right price and quality. Just be good at what you choose to do. Making a fast buck is always fraught with pitfalls, so try to steer clear of that approach.

Originally posted by Mickyboy
Can it make that end of London Road look any worse than it does already

It's not a fantastically imaginative building but it is much better than the grotty buildings that were there before. I'm hoping the influx of students will help keep London Road going and encourage a few more bars to open.

I lived in a really, really grotty house in my second year - we had to get it fumigated to get rid of the fleas when we moved in. :gag:
I think nowadays, students are in so much debt already, and it is so easy to borrow more money that they don't really care that much.
If it is only an extra £10 per week to get somwhere a bit nicer, and say they are there for 42 weeks, then what's £420 when you already owe £10 000+?
People are more bothered about living close to uni nowadays - hence the rocketing price of houses on Harcourt Rd and Crookesmoor Rd.

If anyone is worried that they are going to knock down bed well i hear they are going to use it and incorporate it into the flats- possibly as a common room or something!!!!

There's been a massive growth in "private halls/student flats" over the last few years with a few thousand new rooms. Studnet numbers havent gone up - so thats obviously going to mean empty rooms. Whats happend is that the more outlying areas (well not that outlying really) are just not being used by students any more

Its wrong to lump all students into the same bracket though- theres no shortage of students with well off families - but if you are just relying on Govt funding for your income - yourr not going to be able to afford £75 pw for a room...

Well student numbers are going up by over 500 a year depending on which uni gets preference from HEFCE.

Originally posted by jake
Its wrong to lump all students into the same bracket though- theres no shortage of students with well off families - but if you are just relying on Govt funding for your income - yourr not going to be able to afford £75 pw for a room...

I found that in general, the lower rent was a false economy. For me, I felt that spending more (of my own card earned cash btw) made more sense.

The house I lived in in my second year was cheap but it was constantly freezing because it was so badly insulated, and the gas bills were enormous. It's not just the money though, I found the house was miserable, damp, depressing and ended up being so ill I was in the unversity clinic 3 times.

I came to the conclusion that my health and well being were more important than sparing couple of evenings a week to earn enough to help pay for something decent.

Your right that it can be a false ecomony to live somewhere thats a hovel.. but I'm amazed at what landlords can charge.

I've met students who are paying for their room not far off what I'm paying as a mortgage on 3 bed terrace in Walkley.

And £75pw for the cheapest rooms in cheaply built cluster flat like the UNITE development on London rd is taking the ****...

Some research:

About 37,000 full time students at both unis. Current accomodation is thus:

9200 bed spaces in Uni halls and private halls
2900 bed spaces in private halls under construction or in the planning pipeline.
Rest either in private acc. or at home.

£75 pw is about average for a UK city in a private hall. £75pw might be taking the **** but I think all the private halls in Sheff are full, so priced at the market clearing rate.

What I couldn't find out was what % of students live at home and whether this % is increasing.

Wonder how big the rooms are the look a big squished up?

Originally posted by grigri
Some research:

£75 pw is about average for a UK city in a private hall. £75pw might be taking the **** but I think all the private halls in Sheff are full, so priced at the market clearing rate.

What I couldn't find out was what % of students live at home and whether this % is increasing.

Your correct - there's definately a market for halls, and both many students and, more importantly, their parents see it as an important part of University life. And like all market economics its supply & demand... But if you walked into an Estate Agent in Sheffield with £2000pm to spend (which is more or less the rent on a 6 bed flat in one of these development) you'd get a bit more for your cash than cheaply built flat on London rd!

The number of students at Sheffield Hallam who live at home has increased over the years. (Sheffield College is actually the biggest feeder into Hallam). Part of the reason for this is financial - its normally cheaper to live at home, but part of the reason is cultural... "going away" to University is lot more of a middle class thing to do... I dont know the figures for Shef Uni - but I'd imagine that there has been far less change in their figures .

Originally posted by jake
Your correct - there's definately a market for halls, and both many students and, more importantly, their parents see it as an important part of University life.

As far as I am aware, Sheffield Uni offer every new student (or 1st year undergraduates at least) a place in university accommodation in their first year (halls or self-catered flat/house. Personally, although I thought halls in first year was great, I can not see the attraction of staying for more than your first year. Sharing 2 showers amongst 17 people (5 girls, 12 boys) was horrible...

So I don't see why there is that much of a market for them, as it seems the amount available is already pretty adequate.

Originally posted by jake
The number of students at Sheffield Hallam who live at home has increased over the years. (Sheffield College is actually the biggest feeder into Hallam). Part of the reason for this is financial - its normally cheaper to live at home, but part of the reason is cultural... "going away" to University is lot more of a middle class thing to do... I dont know the figures for Shef Uni - but I'd imagine that there has been far less change in their figures .

You say 'number', but do you mean 'percentage'?

There are also alot more places available on courses, so has the number of students living away stayed constant although the percentage will have dropped due to the increase in the home students?

Originally posted by Strix
You say 'number', but do you mean 'percentage'?



Both the percentage, and the number, of students living at home has increased.

Originally posted by jake
But if you walked into an Estate Agent in Sheffield with £2000pm to spend (which is more or less the rent on a 6 bed flat in one of these development) you'd get a bit more for your cash than cheaply built flat on London rd!

Yes, I hadn't thought about it like that. 4 bed semi next to the botanical gardens is £1000 pcm. At that price you could rent two beds on London road for £800pcm, a 4 bed semi as a country retreat and still be able to fund taxis every day.

You make make a good point on the diff. between Hallam and SheffU.

So I guess that makes my answer to the thread title is not yet but there will be:

1. Private Halls will provide nearly 3000 extra spaces over the next five years.
2. Growth in student numbers will not be completely reflected in increased demand for accommodation, as more live at home, do part-time courses etc.
3. Top-up fees of £3000 per year will hit student numbers from 2006 onwards.