Cushman & Wakefield has appointed three partners to expand the specialist investment expertise within its Student Accommodation team.
Andrew Smith, George Dyer and Paddy Allen join from GSA Group, the global student accommodation investor, developer and operator. They start work at Cushman & Wakefield in December.
C&W said that the appointments allow it to broaden its range of strategic advisory and transactional services within the European student accommodation sector as the sector evolves to become a core asset class for global investors. The trio will bring experience in transacting complex acquisitions, joint ventures, debt raising and strategic asset management of Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) portfolios.
Andrew Smith has worked at GSA Group since 2014, working on acquisitions in Germany and the UK. He previously worked in the Capital Advisors team at CBRE, where he structured a number of PBSA joint ventures and club investments including Victoria Hall, Amro and Nido.
George Dyer joined GSA Group in 2015; he has focused on acquisitions & asset management across the UK portfolio. George previously worked at Invesco & Schroders on pan-European direct and indirect real estate mandates.
Paddy Allen joined GSA Group in 2014 working on acquisitions in the UK and Spain. He previously co-founded a residential business in London and Australia, and the property & financial app, Acasa, and prior to this worked for Internos Global Investors in European acquisitions and fund management.
Colin Wilson, head of UK & Ireland, Cushman & Wakefield, said: 'The European purpose-built student accommodation market continues to be one of the most attractive asset classes for companies looking to invest in real estate and the time is right to further support our clients by boosting our transactional capabilities.'
The UK’s purpose-built student accommodation sector has witnessed year-on-year rental growth, while the depreciation of Sterling has triggered an influx of capital from overseas buyers in 2017 with recent deals involving investors from the Middle East, Singapore, China and Russia.
Cushman & Wakefield forecasts at least £4.8 bn of student accommodation will transact in 2017 and could be close to record levels.
