A Singapore-based private equity firm is backing plans for a £30 million student housing development in Edinburgh in the latest sign of investor enthusiasm for the sector.
Q Investment Partners has bought the site of the proposed 198-bed opposite the former Meadowbank Stadium with UK development business HGD.
The two firms have formed a partnership that will look for other opportunities in the purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) market.
Read more: US firm enters student housing market in Scotland
Ben Hall, head of Investment for Q Investment Partners said: “Despite the uncertainties of Brexit, UK PBSA remains an attractive asset class and Edinburgh is proving especially buoyant as one of the top student accommodation investment markets.”
He added: “With world-class universities there is strong demand for student accommodation, boosting investor confidence, and this is especially true for Asian investors.”
The partners bought the London Road site from developer Summix, which won planning approval for a 198-bed development in June.
Summix hopes to work with the buyers to deliver projects on other sites.
The fall in the pound since the Brexit vote in 2016 has made it cheaper for overseas investors to buy UK assets and for students from other states to study in the country.
Read more: Edinburgh technology firm sold to US buyer
Earlier this month a US property investment firm revealed plans for a multi-million pound move into the Scottish student accommodation market with developments in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
CA Ventures won backing from Investec bank which said there remain significant pockets of the UK in which there there is a chronic undersupply of student beds.
Supply is said to have run ahead of demand in Cardiff.
QIP has a £120m portfolio of student housing investments in the UK. This includes developments in Sheffield and Nottingham.
HGD is the development arm of HG Construction, which builds student housing developments.
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