THE country’s international student boom is opening a new frontier for global property investors, as a shortage of university dormitories and hefty rental deposits create growing demand for professionally managed student housing in Seoul.
Major institutional investors are eyeing purpose-built student accommodation as a largely untapped market, according to global real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.
“There is plenty of scope for the market to absorb more purpose-built student accommodation even at lower levels of growth, because current provision is very limited,” Josh Rose-Nokes, head of Asia Pacific living research at Cushman & Wakefield, told The Korea Herald in a recent email interview.
As of April 2026, Seoul’s universities enrolled around 62,900 international degree students, with foreign undergraduate enrolment rising 11% from a year earlier.
Rose-Nokes expects demand to remain strong as more Asian students seek education closer to home, particularly amid tighter visa restrictions in traditional destinations such as the United States and United Kingdom.
Although professionally managed student housing typically commands higher monthly rents, smaller deposits and bundled services could make it competitive with conventional rentals.
Market data suggests that studios offering lower deposits and all-inclusive pricing can charge rents around 20% higher than traditional properties while leaving students with broadly comparable annual housing costs. — The Korea Herald/ANN
