Nottingham Student Accommodation Market Report H1 2026

65,000 full-time students anchor the Nottingham market.

HESA's 2023/24 statistics record about 65,000 full-time higher education students across Nottingham Trent University and University of Nottingham, of whom roughly 20,000 (30.8%) are international.^[D1] The same approximate series shows year-on-year growth of about 3.5%. These are enrolment figures, not a count of students needing a bed: commuting, postgraduate and part-time students change the local ratio.

Supply against demand

• Full-time UoN/NTU students in city / students needing accommodation in city: 53,888 / 41,314 students (2025/26 academic year).^[E1]
• PBSA bedspaces in city (council tax monitoring): 36,334 bedspaces (2025).^[E1]
• PBSA pipeline (permitted or likely to be permitted): c.5,500 bedspaces (as of March 2026).^[E1]
• Anticipated new PBSA bedspaces for next academic year (vs avg 2,086/yr over prior five years): up to 663 bedspaces (2026/27 academic year).^[E1]

1 application sought new student capacity in H1 2026.

Between 1 January and 30 June 2026, Nottingham received 3 student-related planning records. After manual review, 1 application proposed new or additional student capacity (1 approved at the time of extraction). The rest were condition discharges, amendments, operational works or consultations from neighbouring authorities, which we exclude so that a scheme counts once.^[D3]

Over the twelve months to 30 June 2026, the same registers show 5 new-capacity applications, against 0 applications to relax student-only occupancy or move buildings out of student use.

For comparison, H1 2025 saw 2 new-capacity applications in the same registers. Counts this small move sharply year to year and are not a trend on their own.

Published evidence on rents and occupancy in Nottingham.

Local rent and occupancy evidence comes from published research and operator or university disclosures. We quote it as published, with its period and scope, and do not blend sources.

Flats in Nottingham's student districts sold at a median of £153,750 in H1 2026.

HM Land Registry recorded 661 standard residential sales in the student postcode districts (NG1, NG7, NG9 and NG11) with completion dates in H1 2026, including 94 flats and 191 terraced houses.^[D2] Flats and terraces are the closest proxy for small student investment stock: the Land Registry does not identify HMOs.

The median flat sale was 9.6% below the H1 2025 median. Mix matters at this scale: one new-build block or a cluster of ex-student flats can move a district median.

No standard new-build sales had been registered in these districts for H1 2026 at extraction. New-build completions are often registered months later, so this does not mean none took place, and the medians above mostly reflect second-hand stock.

414 property charges were registered in Nottingham's student districts in H1 2026.

Companies House recorded 414 charges created in H1 2026 over property in these districts, across 297 borrowing companies, +17.9% on H1 2025 (351).^[D4] Charges are security instruments. They show that secured finance was put in place, not how much was lent or on what terms, and one facility can create several charges.

Of the charges we could match to a lender type, 89.5% were held by specialist banks, development, bridging or private funders rather than high-street banks. Bridging and development lenders alone accounted for 91 charges, against 74 in H1 2025.

8 charges involved a borrower name or charge description that mentions student accommodation. Name matching misses most student-let property, so treat this as a lower bound.

HMO activity and local policy shape small-scale student investment.

Across Nottingham, 10 applications in H1 2026 proposed a change of use to a house in multiple occupation, 5 of them in the student districts. Of those decided, 0% were approved. 1 application went the other way, returning HMOs to family homes.^[D3]

Local policy

• Article 4 HMO direction: A city-wide Article 4 direction introduced in 2012 requires planning permission to convert family homes (C3) to small HMOs (C4) for 3-6 unrelated people.^[E3]
• PBSA local plan policy: Local Plan Policies HO5 and HO6 require robust, site-specific evidence of need for new PBSA; the council seeks cluster-led schemes with studios capped at no more than 20% of bedspaces. The draft PBSA SPD has been put on hold.^[E1]
• Letting boards / co-living guidance: A permanent Regulation 7 Direction restricting 'To Let' boards across nine high-student areas took effect on 30 March 2026; the council is also consulting on co-living guidance covering PBSA-to-co-living conversions.^[E1]

Schemes shaping Nottingham's student housing supply.

What the H1 2026 evidence means for Nottingham.

• International students make up about 30.8% of full-time enrolments, so visa and recruitment policy is a material demand sensitivity here.
• New-capacity applications continued in H1 2026. Delivery depends on decisions, viability and funding, so applications are not completions.
• Specialist and non-bank lenders hold most matched charges in these districts, consistent with a market where smaller and transitional assets are financed outside the high street.

Financing student accommodation in Nottingham.

Student accommodation finance covers development loans for new PBSA, bridging for acquisitions and conversions, and term or investment loans once a scheme is let. Read our finance services, or the H1 2026 UK student accommodation finance report for the national picture.

How this report was built.

• Planning. Raw council planning exports in the Construction Capital lake. Student records are keyword-screened then manually classified; only primary capacity applications count towards new provision. Bed figures are as stated in proposal text, excluding hybrid schemes that also propose dwellings, and are a floor, not a total. Councils count only where the scrape window spans the whole period.
• Sold prices. HMLR Price Paid, standard (category A) residential sales in curated student postcode districts. Flats and terraces are the student-let proxy: HMLR cannot identify HMOs. Transaction-sample medians, not a constant-quality index or a PBSA valuation. Registrations lag completions by weeks to months, so the latest months understate final counts; do not read falling counts as falling liquidity.
• Charges. Companies House charges registered against property in the location's student postcode districts (charged-property postcode). Charges are security instruments, not loans: no amounts, LTVs or rates. Persons entitled can be security trustees. Lender categories come from the Construction Capital lender register; 'unmatched' = not in the register. Snapshot 2026-08-01.
• Evidence. Rents, occupancy, schemes and policy are quoted from dated public sources, researched 2026-09-25, and are not adjusted.
• Geography. Student postcode districts for Nottingham: NG1, NG7, NG9 and NG11. Curated around university campuses and the main student-let neighbourhoods.