Too much student accommodation in Coventry says report

[dutchman]

Eden Square opened in 2020 but was nearly a third empty last year



A student accommodation in Coventry was nearly a third empty last year. It comes as a report suggests there are more student flats in the city than demand for them.

Plans to part change the use of Eden Square on Stoney Stanton Road were lodged with the council this month. The 322-bed scheme was completed four years ago, opening September 2020, a planning statement said.

But it has never been fully rented out - "not yet established full levels of occupancy," - the report by Avison Young revealed. This was partly because of the impact of the pandemic early on, it said.

But it is "also due to a large supply of student accommodation in the City that is capable of meeting a much greater demand than has been experienced in recent years," the statement added. The scheme was only 69% full in the 2022/23 academic year, meaning almost a third of it was empty.

This is unlikely to improve in future years, the report added. The plans are now to allow 24 of the block's studios to be rented out so non-students can also live there, known as a flexible use.

Part of the scheme was allowed to be rented out to non-students temporarily for the first year that the building opened, it said. This was because of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which made student numbers uncertain.

The latest plans also come as the city faces challenges in the student accommodation sector, the statement revealed. The problems stem from "unfavourable supply and demand dynamics," which are predicted to continue in the coming years.

The aim of the change is to boost how full the scheme is and avoid the housing being empty, it added. The plans are yet to be decided by Coventry city council and can be viewed under reference PL/2024/0000639/FULM.