Demand for student accommodation in Prague has remained consistently high over the long term, but the supply of new accommodation capacity is not growing fast enough to meet this demand, according to a new study by The Class Foundation and Savills.
The research involves investors and operators with portfolios totalling over 136,000 beds across Europe with an asset value of €18.8 billion.
"PBSA rose to the top of the list of most sought-after Living sector for investors, surpassing multifamily for the first time. When investors were asked about their future allocations within the Living sectors, 62% of them said they were targeting the sector," says David Sajner, Investment Director at Savills. Respondents expect to increase the number of beds in their portfolios by 72% over the next two to five years, deploying a further €20 billion.
This would expand the total portfolios of student housing investors and operators to more than 234,000 beds. Despite this ambition, there remains a substantial undersupply of beds across Europe. If all these planned beds were delivered, the average European provision rate would only increase to 18% from 14% today.
"Prague is also seeing growing investor interest in private student housing. Among the most prominent private student residences in the city are The Fizz, Comenius, Zeitraum Student Housing, DC Rezidence, Bro-Coli, Student House Botič, Rooms 5 and Campus Park," adds David Sajner. Lat year, the city recorded only 29,450 student beds, which is far from sufficient to meet the level of unmet demand.
Approximately 90% of the PBSA capacity is owned by either private or public universities. Although universities are gradually refurbishing and modernising their dormitories, these projects are typically slow-moving and often only partial. In 2024, Prague had 22 privately owned student residences with a total capacity of nearly 3,000 beds. Including existing co-living projects, this number would increase to approximately 3,800 beds. Around 75,000 university students in Prague seek accommodation each academic year, clearly demonstrating that demand for student housing exceeds available capacity.
