The amount of purpose-built student accommodation across the country continues to grow, with 40,000 new beds in the development pipeline - showing that government policies linking university international student visa allocations with student accommodation growth is unlocking new projects.
This brings the overall number of privately owned and managed purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) to over 90,000 beds, the latest Urbis Student Accommodation Benchmarks, created in partnership with the Student Accommodation Council, shows. When combined with on-campus and college accommodation, there are now 134,000 student-only beds Australia-wide.
This year, the Australian Government mandated that public universities could only increase international student enrolments if they demonstrated alignment with three key policies, including a commitment to increase access to student accommodation.
The policy link between international student visas and the growth of PBSA has seen the development pipeline increase to 40,000 in Semester 2 this year, up from 36,000 at the beginning of the year.
Of this pipeline, 12,522 are in the development application phase, 16,366 have development approval, while 11,202 are under construction.
New South Wales has 9,876 beds in the pipeline, while Queensland has 8,839. South Australia, thanks to 2,600 approvals last quarter in Inner Adelaide, now has 4,216 beds in the pipeline. Perth has also seen an increase in applications this year, with 6,500 beds now in the pipeline.
Victoria has the second-largest pipeline at 9,170 beds, but the bulk of these are sitting in the approval or application stage (7,262), thanks to state taxes putting pressure on project feasibility.
However, the surcharge applied to global investors in Victoria is acting counter to the federal government's housing ambitions, with taxes for every student bed in Victoria costing 126 per cent more than in other states. This is because the PBSA sector is almost entirely underpinned by global investment, making it vulnerable to the foreign investor land tax surcharge applied to international capital.
In Melbourne, each student accommodation bed is slugged with $2,795 in council rates and state land taxes each year - a tax burden 126 per cent higher than in other jurisdictions.
The latest Urbis data shows that government taxes account for $1,480 a year per bed in Sydney, $1,145 in Brisbane and $1,081 in Adelaide.
A recent Mandala Partners report commissioned by the Property Council found that institutional investment into Victorian commercial and large-scale residential property has dropped 53 per cent since the foreign owner surcharge was doubled in 2023. Victoria now attracts around 40 per cent less global investment per capita than NSW.
Property Council Executive Director Torie Brown said while it is heartening to see a healthy supply pipeline, the tax question needs to be addressed to supercharge the sector.
"The federal government has made clear it wants to see continued growth in student accommodation, and these latest figures show the approach is working," Ms Brown said.
"As universities partner with private sector owners and operators, new world-leading projects are bringing beds to the market in the areas we need them most - taking pressure off the private rental sector.
"However, Victoria is taxing students out of beds. It is hard to justify the "Education State" moniker when punishing providers who support our higher education system.
"By whacking providers with these exorbitant taxes, Victoria is actively standing in the way of the Australian Government's ambition to boost student housing numbers.
"We need to open the door to investors to build more housing in our cities. If we don't, we will miss out on the opportunity to create thousands of bustling student hubs across our country.
"A sustainable education sector needs to be matched by serious investment in student accommodation supply. It is time for state and local governments to act as a trusted partner.
"The cities that make it easier to invest will reap the benefits of professionally managed student accommodation that brings life and vitality to their CBDs. We're already seeing a substantial increase in the pipeline of beds in cities like Perth and Adelaide, which have investment-friendly settings and pro-international education governments."
Urbis Director Clinton Ostwald said the student accommodation pipeline continues to expand, now reaching up to 40,000 beds across the country.
"In Q3 alone, we saw 3,000 approvals, around 2,600 of those in Inner Adelaide, while Perth experienced a surge in new applications and Melbourne holds a significant number of projects in the approval stage.
"We're currently projecting approximately 7,500 completions in 2027, indicating strong momentum in the years ahead."
PBSA Pipeline
| State | Construction | Approval | Application | Total |
| NSW | 3,179 | 3,574 | 3,123 | 9,876 |
| VIC | 1,908 | 5,494 | 1,768 | 9,170 |
| QLD | 3,601 | 3,147 | 2,091 | 8,839 |
| SA | 0 | 2667 | 1,549 | 4,216 |
| WA | 2,514 | 721 | 3,265 | 6,500 |
| Other | 0 | 763 | 726 | 1,489 |
| Total | 11,202 | 16,366 | 12,522 | 40,090 |
