Insider Media Limited

The West Midlands housing market will be hard-hit by the planned increase to university tuition fees. That’s according to the Birmingham office of property agent DTZ, which said that the new rules to charge students £9,000 per year for higher education would have “real implications” for the residential market.

Earlier this month the government announced it had pushed through plans which will allow universities to charge up to £9,000 per year in tuition fees – nearly tripling the current threshold of £3,200 in annual fees.

Up to 167,000 students are accommodated in the region every year, in nine universities and colleges.

Iain McArthur, associate director in residential valuations at DTZ in Birmingham, said: “The region has been one of the hardest hit by the economic downturn. The housing market has been exposed to large price falls, partly due to large scale developments many of which have struggled to sell and, as a result, have had to be significantly discounted to attract attention.”

McArthur said that the public sector job cuts and pay freezes meant the outlook for new graduates to get on to the housing ladder was “bleak”.

He said: “A student completing a three year course is likely to leave university with around £30,000 to £40,000 worth of debt, including fees, accommodation and subsistence costs.

“Larger student debts will, inevitably, restrict mortgage lending criteria to post graduate first time buyers. Students with a large amount of debt will be forced to either repay the debt first or accept that mortgage providers will reflect this in their lending criteria.”