MyStay Worldwide, which is the proprietor of the Australian Homestay Community, appointed funding banking veteran Ed Slade who heads up education-focused Schoolhouse Options earlier this 12 months to rally curiosity within the homestay sector.
In 2023, MyStay Worldwide offered rooms for some 11,750 college students, making it the nation’s largest homestay supplier. Moreover, gross revenues in 2023 have been A$40 million and grew 130.5% vs 2022, the corporate’s funds present.
“There’s a world scarcity of scholar lodging, and homestay represents the quickest, most asset-light answer for the sector,” stated David Bycroft, founder.
MyStay, which has beforehand labored within the US, additionally hopes to broaden its market share throughout North America.
“We are sometimes referred to as the ‘Airbnb of scholar lodging’ and we’ve hundreds of scholars knocking on our door to seek out rooms, in addition to households that wish to lease out their spare room.”
The advising agency, with experience overlaying Ok-12, edtech, recruitment, schooling property amongst others, has beforehand stated that investor curiosity in schooling infrastructure stays robust, regardless of rising rates of interest.
In its evaluate of 2023, Schoolhouse Options famous that in 2024, scholar lodging will stay in “very quick provide” regardless of an anticipated resumption in growth of recent builds and slowing scholar flows to the nation.
It additionally warned that universities registering working deficits may restrict funding for brand spanking new campus infrastructure.
The paper additionally indicated that college students from South Asia, “who’re the important thing goal of visa crackdowns within the UK and Australia, are inclined to lease homes moderately than e.g. homestay or PBSA”.
“Australia is a big market alternative for us, as there are over 900,000 college students in Australia however solely 80,000 beds in purpose-built scholar lodging,” Bycroft added.
“As an asset-light enterprise with a scalable platform, we will develop larger and sooner than any PBSA firm.”
PBSA is “not a viable answer” for present scholar calls for, he added, highlighting the value of land and constructing means “traders will likely be in search of a lot increased leases than college students have ever paid up to now for any new PBSA”.
“Present demand has already lifted the price of PBSA considerably. This places it out of the attain of most college students,” he informed The PIE. “Homestay/hosted lodging has been neglected.”
With NEAS introducing requirements for homestay suppliers in 2023 – which stakeholders hope will enhance shopper confidence – homestay is predicted to “grow to be a sturdy, worth different to PBSA as lodging stays tight, requirements are raised and scholar rental prices stay low”, the Schoolhouse Options report added.
MyStay was the primary recognised, government-sanctioned supplier of homestay underneath the brand new NEAS homestay requirements.
Some 13 of the corporate’s high 15 buying and selling months since 2008 have occurred in both 2023 or as much as April this 12 months, Bycroft stated, sharing particulars of buying and selling outcomes.
Whereas MyStay Worldwide had been trying to find an funding companion over the previous six months to quickly develop its enterprise in Australian and New Zealand, sudden speedy development has slowed discussions, he detailed.
“We’ve got had unprecedented curiosity from traders because of the lodging disaster,” Bycroft informed The PIE.
“We plan to reopen these throughout the subsequent 12 months when the info will present distinctive outcomes for potential traders.”
“We’ve got had unprecedented curiosity from traders because of the lodging disaster”
The corporate is focusing selling ‘hosted lodging’ because the “solely viable quick to medium time period answer for worldwide scholar lodging”, he continued.
“It is necessary we promote the time period ‘hosted lodging’ along side homestay as a lot of the over 18-year market is underneath the misapprehension that homestay is for underneath 18’s solely. 66% of the worldwide college students that we handle lodging for are over 18.”
Each business and authorities must collaborate to regulate hosted lodging suppliers and guarantee incentives, corresponding to tax credit, can be found for these internet hosting worldwide college students via endorsed suppliers.
“Worldwide scholar lodging is an issue that may simply and shortly be solved if the business and authorities work collectively to advertise correctly managed, requirements based mostly hosted lodging as the answer.
“Compliance is turning into an even bigger a part of our sector, and requirements require thorough background checks, insurance coverage protection and scholar wellbeing. Our software program functionality manages and tracks compliance effectively whereas permitting speedy development,” Bycroft concluded.
