Market Information

General Information

Throughout the year, different demographics will be searching for accommodation at different times and in different ways. House hunting usually begins in November for the next academic year and there is often a peak in searches from current students around this time until mid-December when the Christmas vacation begins. This is usually when the large groups of students (usually 6+) are looking for accommodation.

After this, there is usually a quiet period until early to mid-February due to exam period as students will be focusing on their studies. There may still be some large groups looking for accommodation, but at this time we see smaller groups (3-5 people) searching. Groups of 4 students are aware that there are a selection of 4 bedroom accommodation to choose from and take their time making their decision.

As we reach Easter vacation, house hunting usually goes a bit quieter again with current students preparing for coursework deadlines, exams and going home for a break. But it is at this point that we start to see a small number of queries from new postgraduate students who will not be in a pre-formed group. Accommodation which is still available at this point may benefit from being advertised to groups and individuals.

After the Easter vacation and during exams we continue to see a few small groups searching, but more interest from individual students for one bedroom accommodation or rooms in a shared house, as well as increased contact from incoming postgraduate students.

After the end of the semester in June, many current students will be organised for the upcoming year, and so the main interest will be from new students who will be looking for one bedroom self-contained accommodation or rooms in a shared house. We would recommend that all multiple bedroom properties are advertised to individuals as well as groups to maximise interest.

The number of new students searching for accommodation starts to rise in August, after new postgraduates receive their undergraduate results, and new undergraduates receive their results.

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Looking for 2019/20 Accommodation

This section shows statistics and information relating to house hunting for the 2019/20 academic year.

Month Number of Searches Number of Page Views Popular Areas Popular Property Sizes
October 2018 2229 21,458​ Crookesmoor, Broomhill, Crookes 4, 5, 2
November 2018 4693 48,249
Crookesmoor, Broomhill, Crookes
5, 4, 6
December 2018 1254 12,792 Crookesmoor, Broomhill, Crookes 1,2,4
January 2019 1485 14,272 Crookesmoor, City Centre 1,2
February 2019 1357 12,831 Broomhill, Crookesmoor 1,2,3
March 2019 1769 17,040 Crookes, Crookesmoor, Broomhill 2,1,3
April 2019 1532 12,110 Crookesmoor, Crookes, City Centre 1,2
May 2019 1786 14,722 City Centre, Broomhall, Broomhill 1,2
June 2019 1775 12,131 City Centre 1,2
July 2019 1700 12,597 City Centre 1,2
August 2019 1825 12,461 City Centre 1
September 2019 1742 11,470 Crookesmoor, City Centre

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Looking for 2018/19 Accommodation

This section shows statistics and information relating to house hunting for the 2018/19 academic year.

​Following the rebranding to Smart Move Sheffield and update of the website, we experienced some technical issues which have caused some data to be lost and unable to be retrieved. We have included as much information as we are able to in this section.

 

Month Number of Searches Number of Page Views Popular Areas Popular Property Sizes
October 2017 2,323 - Crookesmoor, Broomhill 3, 4
November 2017 4,804 - Crookesmoor, Broomhill 6, 4, 5, 3
December 2017 1,645 20,106 Crookesmoor, Crookes, Broomhill, City Centre 1, 2
January 2018 2,102 24,944 Crookesmoor, City Centre, Broomhill 2, 1, 3
February 2018 2,254 27,285 Crookesmoor, City Centre 2, 1
March 2018 1,993 24,237 City Centre, Crookesmoor 1, 2
April 2018 2,030 20,092 City Centre, Crookesmoor 1, 2
May 2018 2,008 21,148 City Centre, Crookesmoor 1, 2
June 2018 2,030 22,474 City Centre, Crookesmoor 1, 2
July 2018 2,343 20,814 Crookesmoor, City Centre 1
August 2018 2,634 25,546 Crookesmoor, City Centre, Broomhill 1
September 2018 1,749 18,140 City Centre, Crookesmoor 1


​Searches for Different Property Sizes for a Group of Students
The graph below shows the number of searches for each property size up to 6 bedrooms for the 2018/19 academic year accommodation. As not all users specify a property size, we have calculated the number of searches for each property size as a percentage of the number of searches where a property size was selected. The graph only shows searches where the users are looking for a whole property for a group of friends (i.e. not a room in a shared house), for a family and for couples.

8 Bedroom Properties
This year we have spoken to some landlords who have some 8 bedroom properties remaining when they are usually let at this point. When comparing statistics from previous years, it appears that the percentage of searches for 8 bedroom properties has been slightly lower than last year (2017/18) overall but has been similar. Whereas it has been significantly higher than the searches 2016/17 academic year accommodation. It is worth noting, however, that the number of searches this year has been generally lower than last year which we expect is due to the change in branding and marketing, and that as in previous years students are not required to choose a property size in order to carry out a search.



Contract Start Date
Site users have the ability to select when they are looking for their contract to start. Every month is an option for users to select, with the most common being July and September. The chart below shows the number of times July and September have been selected as a percentage of the total number of searches carried out. As it is not a requirement to select a start date, not all of the users do. We can see that towards the beginning of the house hunting period, July is the more popular choice, but this is overtaken by September in February which is expected to remain the preference.



Maximum Price Per Week
As part of the rebranding of the site we were able to incorporate new features, one of which was to allow site users to select their highest and lowest rental amount per week. The graph below shows the average number of times each maximum price per week has been selected.

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