Empiric Student Property has provided a business and trading update as of 4 June 2025. Based on market data available from StuRents, Empiric’s occupancy rate continues to outperform the wider market month on month, and they anticipate achieving an occupancy rate of 97% or better with the delivery of like-for-like rental growth comfortably in excess of inflation.
To date, the year has seen another strong re-booker performance with over 60% of those eligible to re-book choosing to do so, which is another tangible endorsement of customer satisfaction in the business.
The April 2025 acquisition of Selly Oak Apartments in Birmingham completed the deployment of the placing proceeds, which had been earmarked for acquisition opportunities.
They report progress continues to be made on the deployment of proceeds allocated to the roll out of their Postgraduate exclusive product. Three newly converted and refurbished schemes in Bath, Sheffield and Southampton are on plan to open in September 2025, ahead of target.
College House in Bristol is scheduled to open in early 2026, following planning consent achieved earlier this year for the conversion of this former office block into a 57-bed, all-studio purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) scheme exclusively for Postgraduates.
Manchester City Council also granted detailed planning permission for the comprehensive redevelopment and reconfiguration of their Victoria Point site, allowing Empiric to increase the current provision of bedrooms by 310.
Preparatory work has been ongoing to optimise the delivery of the consent achieved and facilitate a phased implementation plan, which at this point is anticipated to begin in late 2026.
Empiric has also declared a first-quarter dividend of 0.925 pence per share.
“Despite market and policy dynamics, the business remains in great shape, with customer satisfaction underpinning an improving re-booker rate.
“Like other PBSA operators, we are experiencing a normalisation in our sales pattern, with a later booking profile than that we’ve experienced in more recent post pandemic years. The attractiveness of the UK’s Higher Education sector continues to drive strong demand for PBSA, particularly toward higher-tariff University cities to which we are primarily aligned. It is this dynamic that provides confidence we will again deliver rental growth ahead of inflation.
“Following the Company’s share placing in the Autumn, we are pleased to report that deployment is progressing ahead of plan with prospective returns aligning with the commitments made. We are also making good progress on the two exciting planning consents recently achieved, which should unlock value in 2026 and beyond.”
Duncan Garrood, Chief Executive Officer, Empiric Student Property
