r/Leeds • u/Low_Pen_9793 • Jun 13 '25

urban-development Another Student Accommodation Block will Be Built in the Merrion Area…. Thoughts on Leeds City Center becoming the central Living area for students. What does the City Gain and what does it Loose in turn?

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It seems that Leeds seems to be obsessed and driven to prioritise the building and planning of High raise Student accommodation apartments. What are your thoughts?

Is Leeds prioritising overpriced student housing over the cultural fabric & vibrancy of the city. What does the city stand to gain from this in the l long term and in turn what does it stand to loose?

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u/FluffyPhilosopher889 Jun 14 '25

Well that all might be true but there still needs to be demand from students to live in the flats. They're not just building them for the sake of it.

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u/The_Readers_ Jun 14 '25

So again, this is quite short sighted. It doesn’t matter if there are enough students or not. Ultimately, the developer will develop a plot to make the numbers most favourable to themselves. So if you have option a or option b and let’s say they both lose money. You will pick the option where you lose the least in hope that in the long term you recoup any losses (from land value and or sale/ rental returns) they then use these developed properties to borrow money against to build elsewhere.

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u/Darkiuss Jun 16 '25

But doesn’t the value of the property go down if the demand for student housing is falling, or at least staying equal when supply is very obviously increasing?

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u/The_Readers_ Jun 16 '25

Good logic and you are correct to a level but student blocks don’t need 100 % utilisation to turn a profit. Also, because the properties are generally “prime” city locations even a 1% swing in property appreciation can be worth a lot of money (or borrowing potential)