Gtres
Gtres

What are the options for young people living in rented accommodation? Whether you're a student living in a university rentals or even renting your main home, let's have a look at the options available with the help of data from Tecnocasa in Italy.

According to the findings of the real estate network, in the second half of 2019, the general distribution of the motivation of those who rent a property is the following: 64.7% are looking for their main house, 25.7% do so for reasons related to work and 9.6% for reasons related to studying (the percentage of those who look for rentals due to studying is subject to seasonality, with percentages increasing in the second half of the year).

In particular, among those under 35 years of age who opted for a rental contract, 52.7% did so in search of their main residence, 30.0% for work-related reasons and 17.4% for study-related reasons. There is also an increase in the percentage of those who make renting a lifestyle option, in addition to not being able to buy.

The most rented typologies by people between 18 and 34 years old are the two-room apartment (43.1%) and the three-room apartment (30.8%). The predominant type of lease was the free lease (45.7%), followed by the transitional period (27.5% as compared with the 21.1% registered on a national level, confirming the mobility that characterises the objective analysed), and finally that of agreed rentals (26.8%).

By limiting the analysis to the students' objective, it turns out that the most rented typologies are the two-room apartment (35%) and the three-room apartment (31.5%), while the most stipulated contracts are the short-term ones. Milan stands out among those who rent a house for study purposes (33.8%), followed by Turin (31.9%).

As for rentals in large cities in the second half of last year increases were recorded: + 2.9% for studios and 3.1% for two- and three-room apartments. This is mainly due to a decrease in supply and an increase in demand.

Young people who are looking for a home for study reasons are paying attention to the distance from the university faculty to reduce travel times, the presence of services, the tranquility of the area, as well as the state of the property and furniture. Often, the apartment is shared with friends to save money. Nationally, the gross annual return of a two-room apartment in the reference period is about 5.0% and that of a three-room apartment is 4.7%. Returns often increase when students rent if they choose to rent a just a room with a bed.

And it is precisely the significant demand for beds, the supply which is not always adequate and, in some cities, even decreasing, that is pushing several investors towards student accommodation operations or, in any case, in general, towards the creation of beds. There are also several companies that rent a property and then rent it to students by agreement with the owners. Considering that in Italy only 2% of students live in a student residence compared to a European average of 19%, it is clear why many investors in recent years are investing in the student housing segment, in particular in cities with a high presence of universities such as Milan, Bologna, Turin and Rome, to name a few, but also Padua or Pisa.