As the university academic year starts this October, estate agents in popular university towns will be hoping to market their homes to the many different nationalities that are starting courses at the top UK universities.  Properstar is the global platform that can now make this easier for agents, having recently formed a partnership with Chinese property portal Uhouzz who specialise in advertising student properties to buy and rent to the Chinese market.

Of the 2.3 million students who attended UK universities in the 2014-2015 school year 436,585, or about 19%, came from other countries with students from China, India, Nigeria and Malaysia topping the tables.

Universities are struggling to accommodate the rise in student numbers, and purpose-built student accommodation houses only a small proportion of these students. As a result, parents of foreign students will be looking instead to rent or buy a property for their son or daughter to live in during their studies. Many are also looking to buy as an investment, especially whilst the current exchange rate is so favourable.

Properstar is a market leading platform that helps UK estate agents market properties to an international audience through its network of 80, and soon to be 120 portals, in 50 countries.

Managing Director Shameem Golamy comments: “This new partnership with Uhouzz is great news for agents and existing Properstar customers as our platform creates a translation of each listing into terms the Chinese understand.”

The Daily Telegraph has but a list together of the UK universities that have the highest percentage of foreign students, which can be used as a guide for agents as to the areas where there could be the greatest demand from overseas students.

The results aren't as predictable as you would think, with the University of Buckingham having the highest percentage with 56% of foreign students.  Glyndwr University in Wrexham, north east Wales has 39% and Scotland also scores highly. The  University of St Andrews, south of Dundee in Scotland 41.63% and Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh 31.37%. The London universities, which many might have predicted would be on the top of the list, such as London School of Economics (LSE) attract 44% and Imperial College 37%.

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Notes for Editors:

Properstar's platform is different in that property details are automatically translated into 16 languages through its unique translation tool. New UK customers can still sign up for just £100 per month, per branch with 2 months free trial (for a limited period), and will be able to access the full network when it becomes available.

For more information contact 01603 957970; sales@properstar.co.uk or visit www.properstarpro.com