The Capstone Cottages in San Marcos, Texas are among the city’s largest student accommodation communities. Source: Mapletree
Mapletree Investments has acquired seven student accommodation assets in the US from Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors.
The move marks the company’s maiden acquisition of such properties in the world’s biggest student accommodation market. Built in the last two to three years, all seven properties come with fittings and amenities like game areas, common rooms, gyms, reading rooms and swimming pools.
The portfolio caters to top US universities with high enrolments and national rankings, such as the University of Oregon, University of Alabama and Texas State University. In fact, the majority of them are situated less than 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from the respective university campuses.
In a release, Mapletree revealed that the acquisition is in line with the company’s strategy to invest outside Asia. It also follows the company’s earlier purchase of 25 student accommodation properties in the UK in March 2016.
“The healthy demand for higher education globally, coupled with the quality of academic institutions in the US and UK, present a strong investment case for purpose-built student accommodation,” said Mapletree Group CEO Hiew Yoon Khong.
“In view of the growing demand for quality tertiary education, both from local US and UK as well as international students, we intend to further scale up in these growth markets. Our aim is to build a strong global platform with this defensive and resilient asset class.”
Cheryl Marie Tay, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg.
