Milan is in the top-20 most attractive cities for student residences

When it comes to student halls of residence, London is the most attractive city in Europe, followed by Paris and Berlin. Milan? It is the only one in the top-10, in 14th position. This is the result of the publication of Patrizia's first Student City Index, which provides an in-depth ranking based on data from more than 180 university cities in 21 European countries, and offers city-specific analysis to help institutional investors identify the most attractive markets based on demand, liquidity and long-term growth potential for student housing.

The Student City Index is based on three basic pillars: demographics (student population size, internationalisation and age profile); academic reputation, career prospects and quality of life in the city; and market structure (supply pipeline, saturation levels and liquidity).

In the top-10 are London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Copenhagen, Brussels, Stockholm, Zurich and Barcelona. Milan is in the top-20, in 14th place overall among the most attractive European cities for investment in student housing. Rome (in 32nd place) and Bologna (in 73rd place) represent the other two Italian markets that the Index highlights in its survey and which stand out for high numbers of international students, high quality universities and very limited supply. With six other Italian cities in the emerging markets cluster and overall very low student accommodation supply rates, Italy remains an area of interest for student housing investment

"Institutional investors," said Marcus Cieleback, chief urban economist at Patrizia, "need more than macro-level guidance, because the performance of student housing is determined by highly localised factors. Our index gives them a reliable framework to identify not only where the student population is growing, but also where the conditions for a sustainable return on investment are most favourable.'
Patrizia - which currently has EUR 16 billion of living assets under management - is seeking to leverage Europe's chronic housing shortage by raising EUR 1 billion for its latest residential real estate fund, TransEuropean Living, which will invest in alternative housing assets such as student housing and single- and multi-family homes.