“We’ve demonstrated that it’s a stable and resilient asset class,” he said. “As we fast forward to the current environment, with the rollout of the vaccines and school starting to announce their plans to have on-campus operations resuming in September of 2021, we think now’s the time to invest in this asset class ahead of the expected surge in demand as both the domestic and our international students start to return to campus.”
On the face of it, it seems a strange pandemic success story but there are a number of reasons why student accommodation has held up, with online learning the main method of delivering education right now.
The common misconception is that students have poor credit but the reality is students have no credit because they’ve never worked. However, their guarantors, their parents, usually have stronger credit and are able to pay the tuition fees to send their kids to Canadian universities. For them, it’s just not worth having a black mark on their credit record or one that would prevent their child struggling to eventually get their first apartment or first car.
The other element is that, when the pandemic started, all the kids started coming back to live in the residences. Turns out, they want to be close to their friends and feel like students.
Shah said: “For most kids, it’s their first time being away from home. If we’re being realistic, the idea of living at home with mom and dad, having to having to do your chores and be subject to the rules was not an appealing proposition.
