Living Company Buys Chippendale Student

The Living Company has purchased a student housing property at 15-25 Regent Street in Sydney's Chippendale for A$72.5 million ($52.2 million). The specialist rental accommodation firm paid A$440,000 per bed for the eight-storey asset, which provides 165 student beds.

Stephen Gaitanos, founder and joint CEO of The Living Company, told Mingtiandi the acquisition represented a rare opportunity in a tightly held precinct. The company plans to refurbish the accommodation and communal spaces and add ground-floor retail.

Market Context and Shortage

Australia's student accommodation sector faces a significant supply deficit. According to estimates from CBRE, there are 185,000 more student renters than available beds nationwide. Developers are expected to add 34,000 new beds by 2029, equivalent to one-third of the current national supply, a figure that can be tracked in our detailed stats section.

Knight Frank's Tim Holtsbaum said the deal highlights growing investor appetite for student housing in supply-constrained markets. Investors are increasingly targeting the student accommodation sector due to its strong fundamentals, including ongoing student population growth, chronic accommodation undersupply and the prospect of attractive risk-adjusted returns, he stated.

Asset Details and Location

The Chippendale property has been home to the Boston University Sydney Academic Centre's study-abroad program for over a decade. It contains a mix of three and four-bedroom student apartments, classrooms, offices, a laundry, library, and computer facilities.

Luke Shackleton of Knight Frank, who helped manage the sale, said the location was compelling. It is close to Central Station and within a corridor linking the University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney. These two institutions had a combined enrolment of about 125,000 students in 2025, a key demographic for the sector's fixtures and demand.

The inner-city suburb itself is a drawcard. Time Out magazine ranked Chippendale as Australia's coolest neighbourhood and the seventh coolest in the world in 2024, highlighting its free concert spaces, all-night bars, art galleries, and diverse food choices.

Investor Activity and Portfolio

The Living Company acquired the asset from US-based investor TJAC Development, which had owned it since 2009. Upon refurbishment, the rooms will be offered under the company's Scape brand.

Once completed, we will offer these rooms to the open market under our market leading Scape brand, bringing our PBSA beds under ownership and management to over 5,000 helping fill a significant shortage of high-quality accommodation across inner Sydney, Gaitanos added.

The Living Company also owns the Aveo senior living brand and build-to-rent company RTL Co. It has A$17 billion in assets under management across 118 buildings, with 10 more in development. Upon completion of its pipeline, it will have 36,000 beds. Its Scape brand is Australia's largest provider of purpose-built student accommodation, with 41 buildings in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide, a portfolio that can be compared in our standings of major operators.

Institutional Capital Influx

A growing list of global institutional investors has been acquiring assets in Australia's student housing sector. CBRE estimates median rents have grown at a 5 percent annual pace across Sydney and Melbourne since 2018.

Jack Bergin, JLL Australia's head of living, said the influx of capital is a direct response to long-term demand drivers and structural undersupply. This broadening of the capital base confirms that student housing is no longer a niche alternative, but one of the most confident long-term investment plays in Australia's real estate market, he said.

Knight Frank's Holtsbaum noted that recent transactions show stabilised purpose-built student accommodation assets remain a key target for investors seeking to enter or strengthen their position in the Australian market.