Unite Group sees decent improvement in valuation as reservations progress

8th Apr 2019 07:45

(Sharecast News) - Student accommodation development and management company The Unite Group reported a like-for-like improvement of 0.5% in the independent valuation of its Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAV) on Monday, to £2.27bn.The FTSE 250 firm said that portfolio consisted of 23,483 beds in 63 properties as at 31 March, in 21 university towns and cities in the UK.At the same time, its London Student Accommodation Joint Venture (LSAV) investment portfolio was independently valued at £1.26bn, which was 1.5% higher quarter-on-quarter on a like-for-like basis.That portfolio comprised 8,354 beds across 12 properties in London, and the Aston Student Village in Birmingham.The increase in valuations was said to have been driven primarily by rental growth across the portfolio, which was in line with the first quarter in 2018 and supported the board's outlook of between 3.0% and 3.5% growth for the whole of 2019.It said the USAF portfolio was valued at an average yield of 5.3%, and the LSAV portfolio at 4.5%.Reservations for the 2019-2020 academic year were said to be progressing "strongly", with 79% of bed spaces let, compared with 77% at the same time time last year."Unite Students has delivered another strong performance in the first quarter of 2019," said chief financial officer Joe Lister."Reservations for the 2019/20 academic year are in line with last year's run rate and support a positive rental growth outlook."