Increasing student inflows boost demand for housing in Pune, Bengaluru, and NCR, says report

The government expects to attract 200,000 international students to India, more than four times the current number. Currently, the total number of foreign students enrolled in India is 47,427 from 164 different countries.

This number has risen by 36 percent since 2012-13 when the number of international students in India was a little over 34,770, according to an ANAROCK Property Consultant report.

The last three years have seen a fairly decent growth of 6.55 percent in terms of number of beds in hostels across the top ten states. However, it has not kept pace with the increase in student enrolments.

In 2017-18, the total enrolments were estimated at 36.6 million, while the hostel intake was 6.5 million. In 2018-19, the number of enrolments rose to more than 37 million, while hostel intake still stood at 6.5 million, it said.

Hostels and residential facilities in Indian educational institutes can meet only a fraction of the student housing demand.

A major IT hub and emerging Smart City, Pune's educational offerings have earned it the moniker of ‘Oxford of the East’. Home to nearly 3 lakh students, it is one of India's largest education centres which attracts students from across India and beyond. Not surprisingly, Pune has witnessed a spurt in students’ accommodation development with national players such as Stanza Living, Oxfordcaps and Your Space establishing presence and planning aggressive expansion.

Apart from the IT/Tes industry, education sector also boosts Bengaluru’s real estate market. According to the HRD Ministry’s All India Survey on Higher Education 2018-19, Bengaluru Urban District tops in the number of colleges with 880.

Every year, the city attracts thousands of local, outstation and expatriate students. In fact, with over 10,000 overseas students, Karnataka has had the highest number of students coming from foreign countries.

Home to the country’s top colleges at Delhi University campuses and dozens of private educational institutes, Delhi has traditionally attracted students from various places. Kamla Nagar, Vijay Nagar and Hudson Lane in the north campus and Satya Niketan, Anand Niketan in the south campus, scores of student accommodations have come up across the city.

The neighbouring pockets of Noida and Gurgaon have also seen a spurt in private colleges, creating demand for student housing. Sectors 121, 63 and 73 in Noida and Sohna Road in Gurgaon are preferred locations for student housing.

Major players: Stanza Living, Placio, CoHo, Your Space, Oxfordcaps, Nest Away

Areas of presence: Vijay Nagar, Kamla Nagar, Satya Niketan, Hauz Khas, Noida Sector 121, 63 and 73, Sohna Road

Average rate per bed: Rs 8,000 -20,000 a month

Apart from these leading cities, new student housing opportunities are emerging in tier 2 and 3 cities such as Kota, Pilani, Indore, Nagpur and Mesra, which have premiere educational institutes.

These smaller cities provide more lucrative opportunities for investors in this segment because of low land costs and scope for expansion and experiment.