Unite Group hailed its “good progress in sales” during the second quarter, noting decent demand from both domestic and international students.

The student accommodation manager said 90% of its rooms are now sold for the 2022/23 academic year, compared to 81% at this stage a year earlier. It is also ahead of the 89% at this stage ahead of the 2019/20 year, prior to the onset of the pandemic.

Unite added: “We have also seen positive progress in pricing, particularly in the second half of the sales cycle as concerns around the impact of the Omicron Covid-19 variant have eased. This progress has been driven by inflation-linked rental uplifts for our multi-year nomination agreements and the strength of demand for direct-let beds.

Given the strong sales performance to date, we are increasingly confident in delivering occupancy of 97% for the 2022/23 academic year and achieving rental growth at or just above the top end of our guidance of 3.0-3.5%.”

The company is mindful of the Covid-19 situation in China and the potential of tighter travel curbs for international students. At the moment, however, there are no Covid-19 restrictions in UK higher education.