Bouwfonds Investment Management is aiming to raise €400m for a second European student-housing fund.

It said its European Student Housing Fund II was now in the planning stages, and that it hoped to have invested all of the capital in its first fund by year-end. 

Martin Eberhardt, managing director of client relations at Bouwfonds IM, said: “Demand for student-housing investment opportunities continues to be high among institutional investors, as we’ve learned from numerous discussions with European investors.”

The fund will target a 5% IRR from economically strong euro-zone cities and Poland.

Bouwfonds will target sustainable investments in modern properties with affordable rents.

It said it would expand the new fund’s investment focus so that it can also invest in operator-run student housing.

Asset management of the first fund will pass to Catella Real Estate at the end of the year.

The company has bought 24 student-housing properties worth €433m in Germany, the UK, France and the Netherlands since 2010.