Student housing is an “attractive and resilient” asset class that offers investors stable returns, says Wendy Koh, group chief financial officer (CFO) at Mapletree Investments. Koh, who was also at the forum, is the chairman of the advisory board of the SMU real estate programme.
The student accommodation sector is important to Mapletree as an investment class, with the group aiming to grow its global student housing assets under management (AUM) to $11 billion, says Matt Walker, CEO of student housing at Mapletree. Walker was speaking at Mapletree’s fourth real estate forum at the Singapore Management University (SMU).
As at June 2024, the group, which is one of the largest investors of student accommodation globally and in Asia, has an AUM of $5.9 billion. Mapletree has over 33,000 beds across 47 cities in the UK, US, Canada and Germany. The group has a significant presence in the UK and Europe with more assets – about 65 - in the UK compared to 20 in the US. Mapletree is the fifth largest student accommodation provider in the UK while it is in 16th place in the US by bed count.
