Increase in students = good news for local landlords

An increase in students going to university is boosting the local housing market, a research study has shown.

A report by high street bank Lloyds TSB found that of ten universities studied, six were found to be witnessing dramatic increases in house prices.

Interestingly, the largest increases in house prices are in towns that have also experienced a surge in student populations.

Aberdeen experienced the largest increase in real estate, with the average cost of a property in the city rising by nearly 40 percent since 2005. This rise coincided with a 54 percent increase of higher education students arriving in the city.

A similar pattern has developed in both Northern Ireland and Wales. Coleraine saw a 34 percent increase in house prices, while Carmarthen grew 29 percent in the last five years.

However, an increased student population in an area did not always indicate a rise in house prices, researchers said.

Winchester saw a 30 percent increase, compared with only 2.5 percent with the remainder of the South East, even though its student population grew by 78 percent over the last five years.

Edinburgh only had an 11 percent rise in house prices during the same time period, despite having the eighth highest student population in the UK.