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Is Rent More Expensive in Nottingham Than Other University Cities?

Impact Features writer Amina asks whether Nottingham is an expensive choice of city to study in…

When my school friends and I were deciding on universities three years ago, many of us applied to similar institutions, yet most of us ended up completely spread out up and down the country. At the time this was pretty disappointing but it’s come in handy today, giving me a wide scope of first-hand information straight from the horse’s mouth. The results I collected from UoN students aren’t completely conclusive but based on the research I’ve carried out, it seems the average rent price per week for a property in Lenton is about £80-82 without bills. Some people that I spoke to paid a little less and some a little more and there are houses with companies like Student Cribs or Sweetspot whose prices are through the roof.

Some students, like myself, decide to include bills in their weekly price and I know to some this may seem unnecessary but for us, paying that extra bit more is worth not having the hassle of organising it ourselves. Around £80 a week may sound quite high for student accommodation but it seems that many other university cities are charging a hell of a lot more. London, of course, is another category of rental prices completely, and therefore isn’t necessary in comparison to Nottingham.

“Around £80 a week may sound quite high for student accommodation but it seems that many other university cities are charging a hell of a lot more”

Rent at Newcastle University in the Jesmond area (the Lenton of Newcastle) stayed the closest to Nottingham, with an average price of £85-90 a week without bills. One of my friends at Newcastle was paying £96 per week bills not included, although I’ve seen her student house and it’s definitely one of the nicer ones! Up next is the University of Bristol coming in at around £105 per week no bills. Bristol has clearly taken it up a notch into the three digit price range but this is expected as Bristol is known to be one of the more expensive university cities.

The Brighton/Sussex area was on average £110 per week without bills; a student renting accommodation there said, “£110 per week got us the tiniest hole in Brighton”, which sums up perfectly just how pricey this popular tourist area is.  The most expensive university rent I researched was at Durham with a whopping average of £115 per week without bills, although I was told that Durham has many different student housing areas and so the price can differ quite considerably from £110-125 per week. Even in the Lenton area, prices have been steadily increasing and according to my younger sister who started UoN this year, the average rental price with no bills was around £85-90 per week due to landlords opportunistically upping the rent.

On the other hand, some university cities were considerably cheaper, such as Manchester at an average of £75 per week without bills, which seems a meagre amount in comparison to Durham. A student studying in Manchester expressed surprise that any students anywhere pay up to £100 per week! Rent in Cambridge is the cheapest one yet as the university own all the accommodation meaning they can set the rental price as they please. Instead of paying per week or per month, they charge per term and I was told that this usually comes to around £600. Even Nottingham Trent University have lower rental prices than us with a friend telling me she pays £82 per week bills included, however location is an important factor for NTU students and those living closer to the city pay more than those living near the Forest Recreation Ground.

“A student studying in Manchester expressed surprise that any students anywhere pay up to £100 per week!”

Location can be a large factor in the fluctuating rent prices within university cities and for UoN students this is also the case. Dunkirk and Wollaton charge notably less than the Lenton area at around £75 per week without bills, highlighting the price some of us are willing to pay to live in the most popular student area for UoN students. It wouldn’t be hard to pop down the road and significantly reduce how much we’re spending on rent but then God forbid the journey to Lenton for pres. All in all it seems Nottingham comes out as one of the cheaper university cities to live in and I’m more than happy to call it my home.

Amina Youssef

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