Australia’s purpose-built accommodations are gaining ground, with 40,000 new beds in the development pipeline as federal rules linking international student visa allocations to additional housing unlock new projects.
The latest Urbis Student Accommodation Benchmarks, created with the Student Accommodation Council, show that the overall number of privately owned and managed purpose-build student accommodation have grown to over 90,000 beds. Combined with on-campus and college accommodation, there are now 134,000 student-only beds across Australia.
The increase in student accommodation comes amid policy changes. The Australian government required public universities to comply with three key policies, including a commitment to increase access to student accommodation, before they could increase their international student enrolments.
The policy line between international student visas and the growth of student housing has seen the development pipeline increase to 40,000 in Semester 2 in 2025 from 36,000 at the beginning of the year.
Of the current pipeline, 12,522 beds are in the development application phase, 16,366 have approval, and 11,202 are under construction.
New South Wales leads other states with 9,876 beds in the pipeline, followed by Victoria with 9,170 beds.
However, the bulk of Victoria’s beds are in the approval or application stage thanks to state taxes putting pressure on project feasibility.
The state’s foreign investor land tax surcharge, along with annual council rates and land taxes, means each student bed in Melbourne draws AU$2,795 in yearly charges, a tax burden that is 126 per cent higher than in other jurisdictions.
Property Council Executive Director Torie Brown said: “Victoria is taxing students out of beds. It is hard to justify the “Education State” moniker when punishing providers who support our higher education system.
“By whacking providers with these exorbitant taxes, Victoria is actively standing in the way of the Australian government’s ambition to boost student housing numbers.”
Queensland has 8,839 beds in the pipeline, while South Australia has 4,216 beds. Additionally, Perth has seen a risean increase in applications this year, with 6,500 beds in the pipeline.