Madrid, rents through the roof and the boom in university residences

Madrid has become the greatest pole of attraction for international university students, but also for those who opt for internal mobility. The high cost of rent and the increase in the amount of electricity and gas bills have made the university residences and the different halls of residence throughout the region more than feasible options to find a place to reside while studying.. Thus, university residences are becoming a succulent sector.

The data warn of this dynamic: the Madrid region receives 45,000 students each year from other autonomous communities, which represents 19.5% of the total student body.. This percentage is not very far from that corresponding to international students, since the Community of Madrid absorbs up to 12,000 young people from other countries each year, which translates into 23% of the total international students who choose Spain as their destination.. In addition, of the 10,200 places built in university residences in recent years, 22% are located in the downtown region.

These data are what have made the international operator and manager of student residences in Europe Nido Living opt for Aravaca to open its next residence. To his credit is the management of some 12,000 beds in the United Kingdom and Europe since its creation in 2007, a figure that drops to the current 9,000, distributed between Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom..

Javier Baines is the General Manager of the company in Spain and will be the next director of the residency planned in Aravaca. “We saw that Madrid is always ahead in terms of receiving students from other places, either from different regions of Spain or from other countries, so the potential we find is enormous,” he says..

Aravaca will only be the beginning, as the university residence company plans to open two more in the capital by 2025. “This boom is due to the fact that the sector has become very professional, they are practically hotels for students. Parents choose us for all the services and security we offer”, adds Baines himself..

They prefer a closed price

To all this is added, of course, the high cost of rent and what living independently entails: payment of bills, cleaning, maintenance. “People are quite afraid of that and parents end up opting for a fixed price, which is what we offer them here, and not having to be with various contracts for a period that does not exceed one year, on many occasions,” he emphasizes. the General Manager of Nido Living. According to his calculations, most students stay at his facilities about 43 weeks a year..

The prices, where appropriate, range from 875 euros per month for a room with a shared kitchen to 1,400 euros for a single room with a private terrace and full board. That is what those interested who want to stay at Nido Living Aravaca will have to pay starting next year, an enclave that has 12,000 square meters, five buildings and 501 rooms. In addition, its location is not trivial. As Baines states, “the area also has enormous potential, it is well connected and there are many universities, both public and private, around it”.

rent control

Alejandro del Saz, president of the central student delegation at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), is not unaware of this increasingly present reality in the capital. “The subject of the rental price is very commented here, among the students. Nobody can afford a flat, so we rent rooms that no longer go below 500 euros,” he says.. To find a lower residential offer, the student body must move significantly away from the study center.

The student representative also indicates that one of the advantages of living in a residence lies in the camaraderie that is formed by continually being with people of a similar age range and, normally, with similar interests.. In any case, their main demand is to control rental prices in stressed cities like Madrid: “Here people think more about tourism than about students”.

From his point of view, the other alternative, the residence halls, is a better option than a university residence, although there is never room to enter. “And they always give scholarships. They are centers attached to a university that operate at a loss, they are not profitable. It is a pity that there is not a greater offer because, in these cases, the same ones that manage your university degree also manage your accommodation and maintenance”, details Del Saz.

No colleges

Alejandro Cremades corroborates this statement of the low supply of halls of residence for such high demand. “Fortunately, there are waiting lists for our residence halls, they are always full,” he says..

Unlike university residences, these centers are considered non-profit educational institutions that, on a mandatory basis, accompany the student with a training program. “Throughout the years of the schoolboy's stay, he is provided with a series of training in complementary skills to the career”, says Cremades.

Regarding prices, the president of the Association comments that “there is everything” due to the diversity of halls of residence: public, private, from foreign countries, military… In any case, the range is between 10% and 20% cheaper than the cost of renting an apartment, according to Cremades himself. The scale is between 900 euros and 1,400 euros per month.

“What happens with the flats is that many are in the upper part of this fork and without including the services that they do have in the residence, so they are forced to share a flat but, sometimes, the accounts do not work out either”, remarks the president of the Madrid Association. In this sense, Cremades maintains that at the UCM practically one in ten students is awarded a scholarship “to ensure equal opportunities”.

On the other hand, although the high demand for places is a fact in Madrid, a new residence hall has not been built for more than two decades.