Ascott Residence Trust acquires 4th US student accommodation

Seven07, located in Illinois, is worth $112.4m.

Ascott Residence Trust (ART) acquired its fourth student accommodation in the US for US$83.25m (approximately $112.4m), it announced in a press statement.

Seven07 is a 548-bed student accommodation located in Champaign, Illinois, and can serve approximately 56,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

It is within walking distance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

“ART continues to ramp up our investments in the longer-stay segment to build stable income and the resilience of our portfolio. Seven07 is operational and will start contributing stable income immediately upon acquisition. The student accommodation asset is 100% occupied for AY 2021, with lease terms of about one year. For the AY 2022, Seven07 is about 50% pre-leased with strong rental growth of about 8% over AY 2021,” said Ascott Residence Trust Management Limited CEO Beh Siew Kim in a press statement.

The transaction is expected for completion in mid-November, funded by debt and proceeds from the company’s private placement launched in September.

In total, ART’s four student accommodation assets in the USA will offer 2,756 beds. The company has previously acquired student accommodations in Texas, South Carolina, and Georgia.