Housing association, Sanctuary, has announced it is considering selling its portfolio of student accommodation.
Sanctuary currently has eight student accommodation locations across the UK, with 21 properties providing more than 5,600 beds, which could be sold to raise money to improve its stock of affordable housing.
Ed Lunt, chief financial officer of Sanctuary, said: “Our thriving student accommodation business – which provides affordable places to live for individuals moving into higher education – is well established.”
“[It is] well placed to meet the growing demand for high-quality accommodation for domestic and overseas students.”
“The potential sale is being considered as a route to unlocking and recycling capital for new investment in our existing affordable homes and the communities we serve for the benefit of our customers.”
In the financial year, the student accommodation arm of Sanctuary recorded revenue of £69.2million, an increase of £8.6million on the previous year. This contributed to the wider group’s total revenue of £1.1billion in 2023/24, a 15% increase year-on-year.
However, the underlying surplus for the group in 2023-24 decreased year-on-year, reaching £41.2million in 2023/24 compared to £62.7million the previous year.
Sanctuary said that the housing association’s rescue merger with Swan Housing was largely responsible for the drop in surplus, with a spokesperson saying: “The primary driver for this decrease is the impact of a full year of Swan finance costs,” adding that the benefits of the rescue of Swan will be seen in the long term.
