Student property investors buoyed by Moody's rating

Moody's Investor Service recently awarded a long-term A2 rating to bonds issued by Holyrood Student Accommodation Plc, showing the agency's confidence in student accommodation in Edinburgh.

Whilst the details of the rating are explained here, there are a number of obvious developments that have made the city a favourite with both students and investors for years, some of which have been mentioned in this blog before.

Take the reputation of Edinburgh's universities, for example. They are among the UK's leading academic institutions with a number renowned worldwide and notoriously hard to secure a place at. Accordingly, there is competition to study in the city and, whilst the universities themselves continue to grow, so has the student population over the years.

Many of Edinburgh's students are looking for good quality accommodation in convenient locations. Once out of halls, many want to share flats with friends and spacious, traditional tenement flats have long been a favourite. They continue to be snapped up year after year, yielding a net rental return of over 7%, on average.

At the same time, buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage finance has made a return this year with more products available at competitive rates. Metro Bank's latest offering is only one example.

For more detailed information, read our case studies or get in touch.