Belgium will face a shortage of some 70,000 student rooms by 2030, reports L'Echo and De Tijd on Thursday.
While 25,000 student accommodations have been created over the past five years, the shortage remains severe, according to the Kotkompass study by Diggit StudentLife and Stadim.
In 2020, the country was short of 95,000 student homes. Currently, 70,000 more are needed to address both the shortfall and the projected rise in student numbers.
By 2030, the number of students is expected to increase by between 50,000 and 100,000.
The pressure is particularly high in cities such as Brussels and Ghent, the study highlighted.
"The construction rate of student accommodations is far too slow," admitted Frederik Boumans, a partner at Stadim.
He attributes this to the scarcity of issued permits. "It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to build these 70,000 needed spots by 2030," he warned.
Boumans suggests being creative by developing student villages or using modular constructions.
This is crucial to curb the rise in rents, which have increased by €100 per month over the past four years. The average monthly rent for student accommodation in Belgium is now €575.
