Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Singapore-listed Far East Orchard is expanding its UK student accommodation business with the £60 million acquisition of a development site in Southwark from Unite Students, adding its first London project to a growing portfolio of investments across the country.
The King’s Place site at 325 Borough High Street has planning approval for 444 student rooms alongside eight homes for key workers. The acquisition is being made through a joint venture predominantly owned by Far East Orchard’s UK student accommodation development fund, with Singapore-based Aurum Investments also participating.
Far East Orchard plans to develop the property for opening ahead of the 2029/30 academic year. The project follows investments in Manchester and Glasgow and takes the development fund’s UK pipeline to 956 student beds. Its move into London provides exposure to a market where securing sites and planning approval for new accommodation remains challenging.
For Unite, the transaction releases capital from a project it had previously intended to develop itself. The company bought King’s Place for £60 million in 2024 and subsequently moved the scheme into its uncommitted pipeline. The latest sale is approximately 3% below the value at which the site was held on Unite’s books at the end of June 2026, with completion expected around the middle of October.
The disposal increases the value of Unite assets sold or agreed for sale during 2026 to around £200 million. The student housing group is targeting between £300 million and £400 million of disposals this year as it reallocates capital towards selected developments, university partnerships and other opportunities offering stronger prospective returns.
The transaction also illustrates the continuing movement of international capital into selected parts of the UK student housing market. While Unite is reducing its exposure to development land, Far East Orchard is increasing its commitment to the sector and taking on the construction and delivery of a sizeable London scheme, demonstrating how established UK owners and overseas investors are pursuing different strategies within the same PBSA market.
