Brookfield company addresses France’s student housing crisis

Student and young professionals housing specialist Grand M Group, which is majority owned by Brookfield Asset Management private real estate funds, has created UXCO Group, a new co-living real estate division in France and announced a wave of new facilities.

The new brand will bring together all of Grand M Group’s brands dedicated to residences for students and young professionals.

To date, UXCO Group owns and/or manages over 60 residences in France, representing 7,000 beds. The group has plans to invest €1 billion by 2023. Under the new identity, UXCO Group will accelerate its development with the opening of eight new co-living residences in seven cities in France at the start of the school year 2021. Around 1,000 additional beds will be provided in Bordeaux, Caen, Montpellier, Pau, Pontoise, Rouen and Saint-Etienne.  A further six new residences will open in 2022.

The firm said in a statement that student accommodation is set for an uninterrupted increase in demand in the face of the continuous increase in the population of students and young professionals, deepening the existing rental market’s tension in some regions.

Major shortfall in student housing in France expected

The Association of Student Housing alerted France’s senate in March that it estimated the shortfall in student housing at 250,000 units in France.

This acceleration will allow UXCO Group to establish itself as the benchmark in the student and young professional housing segment in France providing for premium residences each offering from 100 to over 1,000 units. In addition to combining comfort and high-end quality of private and shared spaces, UXCO Group has developed a turnkey concept which, in addition to accommodations, includes co-working spaces, sports, cultural and leisure facilities as well as catering services.

Brookfield Asset Management private real estate funds acquired a majority interest in Grand M Group in 2018.

The UXCO Group’s objective is to develop and operate a portfolio of 20,000 beds by 2025, targeting acquisitions mainly in the Greater Paris area, but also in major French student cities where the alternative housing market is under-supplied.