The German fund Patrizia, which specialises in real estate assets, has bought two buildings in Barcelona, purpose-built to provide accommodation for young people studying in the city (PBSA – purpose-built student accommodation). Both were already in operation, and they total 20,468 square metres of residential space spread over 635 apartments, plus parking spaces.

The two buildings are located in highly sought-after areas in the centre of Barcelona. The first, called Marina and built in 2009, is located in the 22@ district and is divided into 538 apartments. The second, called Poble Sec and built in 2007, is in the Sant Antoni area and contains 97 units. In addition to the accommodation solution, both offer other amenities, such as gymnasiums, meeting rooms, function rooms and rooftop swimming pools.

Investor magnet
Student residences have become a magnet for investors. These were already mobilising savings before the pandemic, but the return to university has led to an increase in demand for this type of accommodation given the greater mobility of foreign and national students, which has brought to light the lack of housing specially designed for this group of people in Spain.

It is no coincidence that the investment manager Patrizia has already invested over 470 million euros in this type of building in the past twelve months. With these two latest investments, their assets under management in Spain and Portugal (they have not provided separate figures) now exceed 2 billion euros. Interests in Spain also include logistics, retail, hotel, healthcare and office assets, in addition to traditional residential assets.

High-quality accommodation
Patrizia's Operations Manager for Spain and Portugal, Eduardo de Roda, explained, "The increasing mobility of Spain's student population and the growing interest among foreign students in studying in cities like Barcelona means that there is a structural undersupply of high-quality purpose-built student accommodation in Spain. Our latest acquisition in Barcelona ticks all those boxes and more, with excellent local amenities and transport links.

The investment manager's Managing Director of Pan-European Transactions, Antonio Marín-Bataller, also said, "Despite the uncertain market environment, student housing remains resilient and is one of our top picks among the living sectors. Occupancy rates are nearing record levels in many European cities as students return to universities, and overall student numbers are rising, even compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic. We will therefore continue to carefully select PBSA opportunities in Europe in cities that have a strong spirit of innovation and connectivity.”

^{Photo: Patrizia}