International Campus AG: On the path to growth!
Dear Readers,
We hope you had a good start to the New Year and were able to end 2014 on a relaxing note. The last year was a very successful year for International Campus AG. We opened two new student residences, THE FIZZ+ Freiburg and THE FIZZ Berlin, and won three new attractive projects in Aachen, Freiburg II and in Co-logne for THE FIZZ Basic. With the Dutch market leader DUWO Stichting as the operating partner, we invest with IC Netherlands B.V. into student accommodations in the Netherlands.
With the founding of “Consulting Cum Laude” we bridged the gap between our core business, student accommodation, and hybrid advisory / market research services. Like the “Star Alli-ance” in the airline industry, “Network Cum Laude” is an interna-tional cooperation platform of leading student housing operators and universities. Newly we expanded our manage-ment team with the UK student housing expert James Granger who will oversee operations.
The course is set for growth in 2015. We will open three new student residences in 2015 alone, THE FIZZ Frankfurt I, THE FIZZ Hannover and THE FIZZ Darmstadt, and manage around ten locations with more than 3,000 apartments. Furthermore our pipeline includes 20 new THE FIZZ locations with around 8,000 apartments. Our main objective in future: Appealing resi-dential proposals for the students and attractive returns for our investors.
A successful year 2015,
Horst Lieder
CEO International Campus AG
International Campus: our student residences
Residences in operation
THE FIZZ Bremen on the University of Bremen campus was Interna-tional Campus AG’s first student residence in Germany. It opened around two years ago and com-prises more than 336 high-quality single and double room apart-ments with a kitchenette and a shower bath. The three-part build-ing complex has a concierge ser-vice, two seminar rooms and a communal kitchen.
In October 2014, THE FIZZ Berlin opened in very central Berlin-Mitte. The student residence was developed in a 50:50 joint venture with the group Gädeke & Sons. The 212 apartments have 21 square metres on average and a bathroom and kitchenette. The special features of the complex next to the Spree river include a lounge in the laundry room and spacious cooking areas.
THE FIZZ+ Freiburg opened in au-tumn last year. The residence in the popular Zähringen district of Freiburg is built according to the low-energy-standard “Freiburger Effizienzhaus 60” and comprises a total of 149 high-quality single and two-room apartments. They were sold to private investors and the users and are exceptionally large at 24 to 38 square metres.
Projects in completion
In 2015, International Campus AG will open three new student resi-dences. THE FIZZ Frankfurt I in Gal-lus will be the first. All 382 high-quality apartments in the convert-ed office building are fully fur-nished with a desk, bed, cupboards and a kitchenette.
THE FIZZ Hannover with 303 sin-gle and two-room apartments in Hanover´s central Nordstadt dis-trict will be completed by mid-2015. The fully furnished apart-ments will have around 22 square metres on average and a concierge service will ensure the comfort and safety of the students – as in all THE FIZZ resi-dences.
THE FIZZ Darmstadt is due to be completed at the end of 2015. The property in the city centre consists of both new and old buildings totalling some 340 apartments with an average of 21 square metres.
Planned residences
In addition to the student resi-dences which are already in op-eration, there are also several planned student housing pro-jects: in Hamburg and Aachen, and additional properties in Frankfurt, Freiburg and – the first THE FIZZ Basic – in Cologne. THE FIZZ Basic is a new sub-brand of International Campus that combines an attractive stu-dent accommodation with lower rental prices. The apartments are a bit smaller, fully furnished and coming with a modern bath-room. An own kitchenette is not part of the apartment – instead of that you can find generous communal kitchens with inte-grated lounges on each floor.
Our pipeline
Currently we are also in negotia-tions for new student residences in every important German uni-versity city: e.g. Aachen, Berlin, Bonn, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Co-logne, Mainz and Munich. The following criteria are essential: proximity to the university and to the city centre, the reputation of the university and the situa-tion at the residential market.
In Focus: Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt am Main, the city of high-rise buildings, short dis-tances – and plenty of students. Last 2014/15 winter semester, more than 60,000 students were enrolled at the Goethe University, Frankfurt School of Finance and other universities. The Studentenwerk Frankfurt am Main offers just 2,400 beds in 18 different locations. Halls of residences funded by the church or other charitable organisa-tions account for another 3,000 places and there are around 1,000 private apartments in the city. The Frankfurt Studenten-werk provides accommodation for just over 3 percent of the student population.
Positive outlook
Over the last five years, average rents increased by around 25 percent in Frankfurt. In 2014, the metropolis crossed the threshold of 700,000 inhabit-ants – and the population is ex-pected to grow to up to 735,000 by 2030. According to the City Investment Index (CIII) of the international consulting compa-ny JLL, Frankfurt ranks no. 8 in the world in terms of size and attractiveness. In 2012, more than 1.5 million people visited the trade fairs in Frankfurt. Even though around 22,000 new apartments were built between 2003 and 2012 and residential space was approved in 2014 to an extent not seen in 50 years, the housing market is likely to remain difficult for years to come. However, the high vacan-cy rate of almost 10 percent for office buildings bears enormous potential in terms of conversion into student accommodation.
Three questions for Roman Diehl about Network Cum Laude:
What is the objective of the network?
International Campus estab-lished the cooperation platform “Network Cum Laude” with the partner DUWO, the Dutch mar-ket leader that manages more than 27,000 student rooms. The objective of NCL is to promote and expand residential and ser-vice proposals for international students – throughout Europe.
What do the partners gain by this?
The cooperation platform offers partners like leading student residence and university opera-tors and service providers the opportunity to bundle their strengths and services for the students‘ benefit. The key ad-vantages are e.g. improved ca-pacity utilisation at the respective locations, economi-cally optimised processes, a tar-get-oriented market approach, greater international mobility and a more intensive exchange of knowledge at all operating and strategic levels. This inevi-tably improves access to inves-tors.
And the plans of Network Cum Laude for the future?
We want to gradually develop NCL into an online marketplace for the “student lifecycle” and are already in advanced negoti-ations with major national play-ers in different important countries. Higher education is an exciting international market and we are looking forward to the upcoming discussions!
News
2.7 million students
At the end of 2014, the Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt) announced that al-most 2.7 million students were enrolled in German universities in the 2014/2015 winter semes-ter. The ratio of new students was 57.3 percent, of which 50.1 percent were women.
Frequent relocations
On behalf of EY (formerly Ernst & Young), market research institution Research Now sur-veyed 4,300 students on their future place of work. In the old federal states, 37 percent of those surveyed expected to re-locate after completing their studies and in the new states the figure was 40 percent. Students in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia had the highest career expectations.
Bavaria increases grants
The federal state Bavaria again increased its financial support for student accommodation. The maximum financing amount per student apartment is EUR 32,000.
Excellent prospects for
student accommodation
In a recent study, bulwiengesa rated 68 German cities with more than 7,000 students in terms of profitability. According to the study, at least 30 universi-ty cities have an attractive risk return profile and good invest-ment opportunities. Munich comes in at number 1, followed by Cologne, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Hannover and Bonn. The top 30 also includes Darmstadt, Hamburg, Bremen, Ulm, Karls-ruhe, Freiburg, Konstanz and Aa-chen.
28,000 more student
apartments needed in NL
According to estimates, an addi-tional 28,000 student apart-ments will be needed in the Netherlands by 2020. In the North Sea coast region, around 660,000 students are registered at 13 state universities and 38 technical universities (as at the end of 2012). There are a total of 3.2 million rental apartments in the Netherlands.
500,000 more inhabitants
Between 2000 and 2014, around half a million people in Germany moved to the cities Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Berlin.
Positive development in
regional real estate
In a study for Postbank, the de-velopment in real estate prices until 2015 was examined in all 402 German districts and urban districts. In most regions, the conditions for buying houses and apartments are favourable. Po-tential price increases are ex-pected in nine districts in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, espe-cially in Munich and the sur-rounding area. The forecasts for Münster, Dresden, Jena and Ber-lin are also positive.
“Highly attractive” market
The current EY Real Estate trend barometer shows that 45 percent of the real estate investors sur-veyed regarded Germany as “highly attractive”. One of the main reasons was the higher prices for residential real estate.
