Investment Watch: Back to school for alternative investors
August saw property investors go back to school, according to TheMoveChannel.com´s Investment Watch. As students were packing their bags and saying goodbye to their parents before term starts, investors were equally busy preparing for another year of academic success.
For the majority, that meant putting money into student housing. Indeed, one student accommodation listing in the UK, where occupancy rates are high, promised returns of 8 per cent, a strong enough yield to attract the second-highest number of enquiries on TheMoveChannel.com last month.
Demand for student accommodation pushed another student development into the Investment Watch Top 10 as well. The first purpose-built student housing project in Brighton, it offered returns of 8 per cent too, generating enough interest to become the fifth most popular listing on the site.
August also saw investors enrol in an alternative curriculum. A self-storage opportunity received more applications than Brighton´s student housing, making it the fourth most popular course of investment last month. Indeed, high-yield alternative products dominated TheMoveChannel.com´s summer league table, with a carbon credit programme predicting up to 50pc returns, a renewable bamboo plot and property investment scheme all passing thorough examination.
But even with four of the Investment Watch top 10 taken up by alternative opportunities, student housing proved the most popular class: together, the two university accommodation opportunities took more enquiries than all of the alternative products combined.
Director Dan Johnson comments: "La Manga´s Las Lomas Village remains the most popular listing on the site, thanks to its unrivalled combination of sporting facilities and Spanish tourist appeal, but the latest Investment Watch report confirms a continuing trend among the main players on TheMoveChannel.com, who are investing for profit rather than lifestyle appeal: all of the top 10 listings in August are designed for income, be it rental or speculative.
"When it comes to investment property, student housing is one of the strongest classes around at the moment. Due to a shortage in purpose-built university halls, consistent demand for accommodation means that tenants are pretty much guaranteed, as long as developments are in the right location – and these two clearly are.
"With the summer ending and the annual university tenant cycle starting up again, investors have learned the benefits of student property from previous years, so it´s only natural that they are just as excited as the students to go back to school for another 12 months."
The top 10 investment properties for August 2012 are as follows:
Notes to Editors
Founded in 1999, TheMoveChannel.com is the leading independent website for international property, with than 400,000 listings in over 100 countries around the world, marketed on behalf of agents, developers and private owners.
The website address is http://www.TheMoveChannel.com and the office address is 24 Jack´s Place, Corbet Place, Spitalfields, London, E1 6NN.