Investec Real Estate has provided Tribe, the London and Southeast-focused student housing developer, with a £35 million facility, to fund the construction of a purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) development in South Bermondsey, London.
It represents Tribe’s first ground up student development project, in a sector which saw investment volumes return close to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 and is forecast to be worth £72 billion by the end of 2022.
The scheme will comprise 250 high specification units comprising 137 private ensuite units, 25 studio units and 88 affordable ensuite units. The scheme will feature generous onsite amenities and collaborative workspace, as well as 58 affordable residential units and c. 12,500 sq ft of commercial space. The site is well located, 15 minutes’ walk from South Bermondsey station which connects to London Bridge in under 10 minutes.
The development facility with investment tail is Investec’s first with Tribe, although Investec has worked with one of the borrower’s founders for a number of years who is a key client across the bank.
Since the start of 2015, Investec has committed over £850 million to the PBSA sector, financing more than 18,500 beds across c. 50 schemes in 23 university cities.
Ian Burdett & Stuart Scott, Investec Real Estate, commented: “Student accommodation has been a strong sector for Investec in recent years and we remain bullish on its outlook, especially in London where this latest scheme is well located to benefit from the market’s structural undersupply and continued demand from domestic and international students. It’s particularly pleasing to be working with Tribe on their first PBSA scheme, we look forward to leveraging our deep sector expertise to support them with their debut student development project and hopefully working with them again in the future.”
Laurence Quail, Managing Director at Tribe, added: “We are delighted to be working with Investec on the delivery of this exciting new scheme, which we’ve carefully designed to best meet the needs of today’s students for well located, high quality, good value for money accommodation. Tribe is actively growing with in excess of 1,000 further beds already in the pipeline across London.”
Founded in 2020 by a senior team with over 25 years development experience in the UK private housing sector, Tribe aims to ease the shortage of good quality affordable accommodation for London’s students. The company is currently progressing with five sites including the subject scheme.
The London student housing market continues to benefit from strong supply and demand fundamentals, supported by the capital’s reputation as a world leading university city. Student numbers are expected to increase by 25% over the next five years within a 2.5-mile radius of the development, where there is currently a significant lack of suitable accommodation.
