Owning a home in a city with a top university could add an extra £28,724 on to the price of your property, new research has revealed.
According to Housesimple.com Coventry is the top university city for house price growth with the average property rising by 61% between June 2015 and June 2018.
But with many of the UK’s universities giving properties in their vicinity a price boost, experts at Housesimple are now advising parents in a position to invest in a buy-to-let or second home to consider buying where their child is studying.
Coventry and other top cities
Indeed, its research discovered the average home in Coventry, whose university is ranked 13th in the country, would have cost £114,625 in 2015 and is now worth £184,690.
This would have easily covered the £27,250 tuition fees for two children at the university – with enough money left over to pay for a few beers.
It’s not just Coventry where the student population has given house prices a boost. Property in more than half of the UK’s top 50 university cities have soared enough over the past three years to cover £27,250 tuition fees for a three-year degree course.
And in seven of these cities – including Loughborough, Manchester and Southampton – house prices are below the UK average, but the value of their growth would still have paid for entire tuition fees of £27,250.
Debt-free start in life
In fact, if parents had bought a second home or a buy-to-let property to rent to students or for their child to live in during their studies with friends in 56% of these towns and cities, house price growth would have covered the entire cost of the three-year degree course.
Sam Mitchell, CEO of online estate agents, Housesimple.com, said: “The cost of a three-year degree at many universities is fast approaching £30,000 and that’s just to cover tuition fees. There’s also accommodation costs and general living expenses to think about.
“If you are in a position to buy a second home, purchasing a property in the town or city where your child is studying could provide a possible solution and give your offspring a debt-free start in life after university.
“By investing in a second home, the increase in capital value alone could cover the cost of tuition fees. Of course, there’s no guarantee house prices will continue to rise at the rate they have in many of these cities since 2015, but this is one conceivable way to help cover the cost of higher education in the medium term.”
