Exeter chosen for new luxury student development scheme

Specialist luxury accommodation provider, Vita Student, has selected Exeter as the location for a new £17m project. The city was chosen due to the reputation of the university, rising student numbers and the undersupply of high quality property.

Vita Student at Portland House is located just off the main high street in Exeter and is a short walk to the main university campus. It is being refurbished from a multi-use development and once completed it will comprise of 161 luxury studios and two-bedroom apartments.

The first wave of students is due to move in during September 2014 and will benefit from fitted kitchens, en-suite bathrooms and a space-saving foldable double bed with integrated sofa. The apartments also include free high-speed 100MB broadband, Wi-Fi and a flat screen smart TV.

The growing student body can be attributed to The University of Exeter rising rapidly in the UK league tables culminating in it being named as The Sunday Times University of the Year in 2013. Student numbers have recently reach more than 19,000, with 25% from overseas.

Vita Student was founded in 2012 by luxury developer Vita Ventures which has been targeting Russell Group university cities across the UK.

CEO of Vita Ventures, Trevor Moore, said: “The recent achievements of The University of Exeter mean that students are flocking to the city and accommodation is at a premium. Subsequently Exeter was an obvious choice for our next target.

“Investor requirement for student property like ours is at an all-time high. The rate at which all our projects have sold demonstrates that our model is successfully addressing the market demand.”

UK and international investors will be able to start buying the studios from 26th September 2013. The starting price of each studio is £77,950 and investors are assured a 7% rental yield for the first five years – a figure that is nearly 2% higher than the current UK average.

The project at Portland House brings the total number of Vita Student apartments in the UK up to 929, following previous launches in Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol.

For further information about Vita Student click here.