US student flats developer TJAC is selling a £180m portfolio of central London properties used to house American students studying in the capital.
TJAC is understood to have appointed Knight Frank to market the portfolio for a price reflecting a yield of 4.5%.
The portfolio includes the 230-bed Byron Court, WC1, and a 120-bed block in Russell Square, also WC1, which are both let to New York University for 20 years.
It also includes the 106-bed 74-76 Courtfield Gardens in Kensington, SW5, which is let to Boston University for 18.5 years. A further two blocks under construction in the South East are included. The portfolio as a whole produces annual rent of around £8.6m.
TJAC works closely with US universities to house students on overseas study programmes. As well as properties in London, it also has student flats in Cambridge, Geneva, Switzerland and Sydney, Australia.
Sources said the TJAC portfolio could also attract residential investors owing to its prime London location.
The London student property market has attracted rising overseas investment, with average weekly student rents in the capital having soared by 50% over the past five years to £177, according to Deloitte Real Estate.
In 2013, of the £2bn of UK student property transactions, 36% were undertaken by new entrants to the sector, according to Savills.
The collapse of the Opal Property Group in March 2013 increased US interest, in particular, in the UK student market. The group’s 20,000-bed portfolio offered investors the chance to make a big entrance to the market with a single buy (27 July 2013, p25).
US-based Avenue Capital and Greystar Student Living as well as Australian student housing company Campus Living Villages have all since bought large slices of the Opal portfolio.
All parties declined to comment.
Joanna.Bourke@estatesgazette.com
