A Hedonic Rent Index for Student Accommodation

In recent years considerable strains have become apparent in the housing market for students. To measure the rental price trend for student accommodation, the Deutsche Real Estate Funds and the Cologne Institute for Economic Research developed a hedonic rent index for student accomodation. This index was calculated on the basis of data from ImmobilienScout24, a property website, on offerings in 15 large cities and university towns for the period from 2010 to 2016. The results indicate a clear, and in some cases substantial, rise in rents, ranging from 8.0 to 37.3 per cent. To make it easier to compare the results, the rent for a standardized student flat in each location was established. These hypothetical rents also reveal a considerable discrepancy between the cities covered by the data. While a monthly rent of 615 euros is payable in Munich, a comparable flat in Leipzig costs a mere 316 euros.