Areas boasting Russell Group universities – considered the best in the UK – have the highest rents but disappointing yields. 

Returns from a property close to one of the 24 Russell Group institutions currently average £296 per week, some 27 per cent higher than the other 76 within the UK’s top 100.

The least affordable campus from a student rental perspective is Imperial College London with an average weekly rent of £720. In contrast, the most expensive alternative is the University of Surrey where the average weekly rent totals £476; 34% lower than Imperial College London.

In terms of the best level of rental affordability, it’s the University of Leeds with weekly rental costs averaging £160 per week. Yet even this is 78 per cent above the most affordable non-Russell group location, Teesside University, where rental costs average £90 a week.

The Russell Group includes those institutions deemed to deliver a high level of education while also promoting world leading research and innovation.

The group claims to generate £87 billion a year for the economy, supporting a quarter of a million jobs across the UK; there is inevitably a knock-on effect for the wider housing market.

With an average price of £479,410, house prices surrounding RG universities are 62 per cent higher than other top UK universities.

However, the Russell Group does rank behind the rest where one area is concerned. 

The average rental yield surrounding their universities currently comes in at just 3.2 per cent while the other 76 top UK universities offer landlords an average rental yield of 4.1 per cent.

The survey was conducted by UniHomes.