Belgian student accommodation provider Xior Student Housing (Xion) has reported a "solid" first nine months of the year, with the company reporting that recent rent hikes have not impacted demand, and students are booking up new rooms in "record time".
Xior is publicly listed on the Belgian stock exchange and manages a €3.3 billion property portfolio of student housing across Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Poland, Denmark and Sweden.
It currently operates 20,886 lettable student units (21,465 beds), with a further 4,092 units in the pipeline.
The student accommodation provider brought in €120.9 million in net rental income in the first nine months of the year – 14% more than the same time last year. Xior said that this was due to a 6.8% growth in rent and a 98% occupancy rate across the company's almost 21,500 student beds.
It said it had a "successful start" to the current academic year as it raised rents by 6.2% in October. It noted that students still "continue to choose Xior en masse" and "higher rents have no impact on demand".
"On the one hand, there was high tenant retention and, on the other, vacant and newly delivered rooms were rented out in no time," the company said.
A student's room in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Brussels. Credit: Belga / Eric Lalmand
Xior opened around 1,000 new student rooms in September, including two new residences in Antwerp, Felix (199 units) and Drie Eiken (334 units). Its profits from operational activities (EPRA) in the first nine months of the year reached €60.5 million. Its net profit rose by 45.9% to €41.45 million.
The company is now projecting that its rental income will be up 6.5% by the end of the year, compared to a previous estimate of 5.5%. It said the current market will "continue to support further rental and earnings growth", but added that this would have to be "without losing sight of affordability".
Xior student rooms and apartments listed for rent in Belgium range from €380 to €1,195 per month, before charges.
