Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on November 27, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Unite Group forecasts lower 2026 earnings due to weak student housing demand and slower rental income growth, affecting share prices.
(Corrects November 27 story to say Unite is grappling with slower growth, not a fall, in rental income in paragraph 1 and that it reported a drop in number of late-cycle Chinese postgraduate tenants, not overall number of students in paragraph 3)
(Reuters) -Britain's Unite Group warned of lower earnings in 2026 on Thursday, as the student accommodation developer grapples with lower student occupancy and slower rental income growth, sending its shares to a more than a decade low.
Separately, the UK's competition authority cleared Unite Group's 634 million pound ($839.48 million) acquisition of smaller rival Empiric Student Property.
The deal comes as the sector faces headwinds, with both companies reporting a drop in the number of late-cycle Chinese post-graduate tenants seeking accommodation amid geopolitical uncertainty and rising costs.
Unite Group, in a separate statement ahead of its investor event, said it expects a 7-10% drop in its 2026 adjusted earnings per share, as it grapples with lower student occupancy, a fall in rental income, and delays in development completions, among other factors.
Earlier this month, Empiric reported a 6% decline in occupancy, citing a fall in reservations from Chinese student tenants.
Unite said on Thursday that it expects to deliver rental growth of 2%-3% for the 2026/27 academic year, below the 4% reported for the 2025/26 academic year.
The Bristol, England-based company also expects to report muted growth in occupancy for the 2026/27 academic year at 93-96%, compared to the 95.2% in the 2025/26 academic year.
Shares in the company dropped 6% in early trade to their lowest levels since early 2015.
($1 = 0.7552 pounds)
(Reporting by Simone Lobo in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
Student housing refers to accommodations specifically designed for students, typically located near educational institutions, providing a living space that caters to their needs.
Rental income is the money earned from renting out property or real estate. It is a key source of revenue for landlords and property investors.
Occupancy rate is a measure of the percentage of available rental units that are occupied. It is an important indicator of the performance of rental properties.
An acquisition is a corporate action in which one company purchases most or all of another company's shares to gain control of that company.
Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) is a company's profit divided by the number of outstanding shares, adjusted for non-recurring items to provide a clearer picture of profitability.
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