^Rosedale Court, Portland Green Student Village
Image credit: Keira Gratton
A 4.8% average rent rise will hit Newcastle University student accommodations in 2025, climbing again after a shocking 8.7% increase for 2024 pupils, says Accommodation Finance Team’s Gillian Adamson.
In the 2024 academic year alone, both University-owned and managed-partnership first-year accommodations increased their prices, with costs rising up to 24% at Shielfield’s Portland Green Student Village (PGSV).
Mia Wijayatilleke, 19, currently living in PGSV Rosedale Court, said she was “so shocked when I spoke to second years and found out how much the price has gone up … if anything the rooms are just getting older!”.
The costs for their standard en-suite room went from around £145 per person per week (pppw) to £180 pppw between 2023 and 2024, contradicting PGSV’s reputation as the affordable Newcastle halls.
This puts their price point level with premium city centre flats like The Verde, which boast cinema rooms and state-of-the-art gyms. By comparison, in Rosedale Court, Wijayatilleke alleges that “two new treadmills are the only new facility I’m aware of since raising the prices”.
Image credit: Keira Gratton
Abodus Student Living, the parent company of PGSV, did not respond to requests for comment on this price increase.
Adamson said that “the University has no control” over managed-partnership rent, “they are set by the individual company”. However, their agreement with accommodation providers specifies that rent should be “appropriately priced” compared to the University’s own rates.
But with University-owned accommodations seeing fee increases of their own, the ones at Portland Green are less distinctive. Park View also saw fees go from around £156 pppw to £187 pppw for a standard room in 2024.
Adamson said that “supporting the real living wage for our colleagues” and an “increase to Employers NI (national insurance) contributions” are the reasons for skyrocketing costs at Uni-owned properties. These rates in combination with the increasing Retail Price Index (RPI) – used as a measure of inflation – mean that the Uni “cannot definitively predict … future rent increases”.
As of February 2025, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports that inflation was down to 3.7% nationwide, meaning that Newcastle’s rate increases are around 1.1% higher than national RPI.
Image credit: ONS
In response to claims that new rent prices are “unreasonably high” by Ashley Levy, 19, a former PGSV tenant, Adamson reassures students that the University are introducing a new inclusive laundry scheme “which will allow full year students to have £120 credit … to help with the cost of living”.
Newcastle University Labour Society President Freya Emmet, 22, said that pupils coming from working-class backgrounds are “the main victims” of “overpriced” Uni living, unable to turn to family for money.
“I have met many people who are struggling financially, and this is a number I have seen increasing during my time at University.”
These rent rises come alongside a nationwide £285 increase in tuition fees, and the declaration of a cost of learning crisis, with students across the UK reporting similar rent rises in areas like Durham and Manchester.