Last October many students rushed to start their university degrees, ahead of the rise in student fees that will start in October 2012, so in many student towns there was a considerable undersupply of student accommodation. But as widely predicted the news emerged at the start of this year that student applications for degree courses starting this autumn are down. In fact the number of British students applying to university has crashed by 23,000, compared to a year ago.

From this autumn, universities in England will charge up to £9,000-a-year in tuition fees, which is almost three times the current maximum. The data, from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) also shows a sharp drop in demand from candidates from mainland Europe who pay the same fees as British students.

Most students are supposed to apply by mid-January, although some courses with vacancies accept applications later in the year. If the decline trend in applications continues until the summer, it will reportedly result in an overall drop of almost 45,000 students compared with 2011.

However, the drop in student applications for degree courses vary considerably depending on what age the applicant is and where they are from, the type of course being offered, and crucially for property investors, which city the university is in.