London’s £600 million student lettings market is a key driver in the campitals rental market

A new report from lettings specialist EJ Harris has found that international students, many of whom are studying in north London, are driving up the rental market.

The wealthiest students were found to spend up to £1,500 per week (£6,000 per month, £72,000 per year) to live in plush addresses in Marylebone, Mayfair, Knightsbridge and South Kensington.

This means they are spending up to three times the average British worker’s wage (£26,000 per annum) on renting a home in London.

Fears were raised about student accommodation costs earlier this year when foreign investors pumped £670 million into student accommodation on a single day in June, and the GLA Housing Committee held a meeting to consider whether student digs were being replaced by “luxury pads”.

Students in north London are currently paying up to £1,500 per month to live in luxury accommodation in Camden, but according to the report many international students are able to afford the high living costs.

The report found that while some students receive grants from their home countries, the majority of students have their accommodation paid from the “bank of mum and dad”.

The wealthiest students come from China, Thailand, Russia, Malaysia and Nigeria, with other affluent overseas students coming from France, Italy and Spain.

There are currently 107,000 international students studying in London. 40,000 of these are from continental Europe and 67,000 from the rest of the world.

Elizabeth Harris, Managing Director of E J Harris, said: “There are over 100,000 international students studying and living in London and their numbers are rising. University applications from overseas students are up by 18% since 2010, and up by 30% for the capital’s best universities. In our experience international students make for extremely good tenants, they are very studious and take their studies in London extremely seriously. As tenants they tend to be quiet, hard working and tidy. Smoking tends to be the only common vice.”