This year’s intake of new students are opting for cheap housing with shared facilities, not more luxury accommodation with private bathrooms, the Volkskrant reports on Monday.

In Utrecht, for example, small rooms with shared bathroooms in a complex built in the 1960s have proved most popular as students keep an eye on costs, the paper says.

In recent years, student housing providers had focused on added luxuries, such as a private bathroom and separate kitchen. But these are out of favour since people with a shared front door were excluded from housing benefits. In addition, uncertaintly over the future of student grants is having an effect.

There are currently no vacancies in higher segments of the student housing market either, Vincent Buitenhuis of the student landlord umbrella group Kences told the paper. However, he expects that in the future there will be  a surplus in the €500 plus range offered by commercial companies.

Expensive

A report by property group Savills this summer showed students in the Netherlands pay more than all but British students for a place to live while at university.

A Dutch student pays an average of €100 a week for a room, while their British counterparts pay €139 a week. But Belgian students pay just €66 and Germans are even better off with an average room price of €57 a week.

Amsterdam tops the list with a monthly rent of €498 a room. The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht are around €400 while in Eindhoven, Tilburg and Wageningen students pay around €300 rent a month.

Student housing is considered a good investment by property companies because of the guaranteed returns.

In its report, Savills says Amsterdam, Paris, Milan and Barcelona ‘pose standout opportunities’ for investors on the basis of their large student populations. Leiden and Utrecht are considered top investment opportunities