Â鶹ӳ»­

UK developer Crosslane and German property company Bauer Capital have formed a joint venture for student housing projects and portfolios in Germany.

The parties have set up a fund - the Victus European Student Accommodation Fund - which will acquire, develop and build 3,000-5,000 student beds throughout Germany over the next five years with a target value of around £300 mln (€346 mln).

Target university cities include Munich, Hamburg and Oldenburg.

For Crosslane, the JV marks the company’s first foray into the student sector in Europe. The joint venture is being advised by Savills, which has conducted research showing that the average growth of the total student population in Germany since 2008 is 5.50% per annum with the current number of total registered students at around 2,501,990.

This compares to a total number of places in student halls of 228,500 (data from Deutsches Studentenwerk), showing a provision rate of 11% and a clear undersupply in the country, especially when compared with the UK where the provision rate is 23.7%. Savills also notes that yields for student residences in Germany have been stable in recent years at 5.50% for prime and 6.75% for secondary, reflecting the strength of the sector.

Andrew Jamieson of Crosslane commented: ‘Having identified an opportunity to satisfy some of the increasing demand for student housing in Germany, we are very pleased to be progressing our first project in Europe with Bauer Capital, who have extensive local knowledge in the sector.’

He added: ‘We are progressing a number of transactions with about 800 beds to be acquired in the next months.’