Partner for global real assets – PATRIZIA AG – has grown its investment in the pan-European alternatives sector by investing in two purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) buildings in Dublin, Ireland, on behalf of its institutional clients. Savills acted on behalf of the vendor and Cushman & Wakefield acted as commercial advisors to PATRIZIA, with A&L Goodbody as its legal advisors.
To help address the need for good quality student accommodation in the city, which is home to over 80,000 full time students, the two PBSA assets were purchased separately by the PATRIZIA Pan European Property LP and PATRIZIA Europe Residential Plus funds.
Completed in 2018 and 2019 respectively, Thomas Street and Parkgate provide a total of 576 high quality student homes in the city centre. PATRIZIA intends to retain award-winning student accommodation operator – Fresh Student Living – to manage the two Dublin assets. The company has a portfolio of over 22,000 student and residential rental units under management.
“The purchase of these two assets marks PATRIZIA’s debut in Ireland’s student housing sector and underlines our commitment to providing high quality accommodation that delivers for both our clients, and the needs of the community.
“The alternatives sector, particularly ‘living alternatives’ such as purpose-built student accommodation provides an exciting growth opportunity for our institutional clients given the low levels of supply across Europe. Like many major European cities, Dublin has a growing student population but with a supply-demand imbalance of good quality accommodation. With this investment we aim to continue our student housing investment strategy across Europe well into 2022 and beyond and look forward to securing further such opportunities for our clients.”
Antonio Marin-Bataller, Director, Pan-European Transactions at PATRIZIA
The rise in the number of mobile and international students, coupled with the constrained availability of student accommodation in Europe, has helped PBSA outperform other ‘living alternative’ sectors. The resilient occupancy rates of PBSA provide a robust income profile and continue to drive pan-European investor interest.
