Education and student-housing investment company CBIT Education group is planning a 220-bed student apartment block in Vancouver to cater for the increasing student and technology worker population in the city.
The company has announced its intent to purchase two parcels of land, with closing date for formal sale agreement expected to be December 2018. The construction of the building is expected to start early 2019, with a total budget of approximately $60m.
“Demand is growing faster than supply, creating shortages in major education hubs”
“Vancouver real estate continues to experience strong demand from domestic and international students while demands for rental properties continue to be in a crisis mode,” Toby Chu, chairman and CEO of CIBT said in a statement.
The planned building, Chu added, will cater for the growing tech worker population but also to the existing pool of students on the company’s waiting list. The growth of tech companies in Vancouver, he added, will pile further pressure on what he referred to as the “rental housing bottleneck” within the city.
With international student numbers still rising, student housing shortages in Vancouver have led to on-campus and off-campus accommodation being developed.
“Canada has become one of the most interesting and fastest growing study destinations for internationally mobile students,” said Stefan Kolibar, head of marketing at StudentMarketing.
“Demand for accommodation is growing faster than supply, especially creating shortages in major education hubs, such as Vancouver.”
Developers are increasingly investing into the student housing market in the city, with seven buildings under development at the moment, CBC reported. Earlier this year, CBIT announced plans to build the second Global Education City in Vancouver.
The housing crunch isn’t just for Vancouver. On the other side of Canada, at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, a spike in the number of new international recruits meant students had a hard time finding accommodation at the start of the academic year, CTV Atlantic News reported.
