Alongside convening and advocacy, The Class Foundation provides the sector with robust, data-driven insight to support better decision-making.

The Student Living Monitor is the first research of its kind, examining the relationship between students’ living environments, wellbeing, and happiness.

Over the past three years, more than 50 organisations have contributed to this research, creating one of Europe’s most comprehensive datasets on student experience with nearly 20,000 responses. The findings offer critical insight into how housing design, operations, and community impact student outcomes directly informing investment and development decisions in PBSA.

Shaping European-level policy dialogue.
The SLM findings were used in consultations and discussions with Mr. Dan Jørgensen, (Commissioner for Energy and Housing) team ahead of the European Commission’s Affordable Housing Plan, launched in December, helping position student housing as an essential element within the plan. This marks a significant step toward the EC acknowledging the need for accessible, quality student housing within broader EU housing agenda.

Informing market decisions at regional level.
Student Living Monitor data was translated into country-specific insights and presented at The Class Foundation’s Regional Forums and other external events such as ICEF, EAIE, MIPIM By contextualising wellbeing, affordability, and supply dynamics at specific market level, the research provided operators and investors with key data in making more informed decisions on asset design, pricing, services, and investment priorities.

Benchmarking for operators.
For partners opting for bespoke reports, the data was applied at asset level to identify challenges, highlight assets that perform strongly on wellbeing, and extract learnings from successful schemes. Each report combined asset-specific insights with country and European benchmarks, allowing operators to understand how their portfolios perform relative to local and continental trends, and to target improvements in community-building, services, and design where evidence shows the greatest impact.

Exclusive Partner Access to SLM dashboard
Class partners can access the SLM interactive dashboard with over 200 analytical filters, allowing detailed exploration across, markets, student demographics and lifestyle, and wellbeing indicators on country, and European level. For access enquiries, please contact research@theclassfoundation.com.

The European PBSA Investment Barometer, produced in collaboration between The Class Foundation and Savills, tracks investor sentiment, capital allocation intentions, and market dynamics across the European student housing sector.

The 2025 edition is grounded in a survey of 18 investors and operators collectively managing 136,000+ beds, with a combined asset value of €18.8bn+, giving the Barometer a strong market signal rather than anecdotal sentiment.

Respondents projected a substantial expansion of portfolios with expectations to grow holdings by over 70% and deploy €20bn of new capital, while also signalling key concerns around regulation, affordability, and ESG readiness that could shape future investment decisions.

The research provides a clear view of the current PBSA landscape and a forward-looking perspective on market trends, risks, and opportunities. By harnessing the data, analysis, and insight within the Barometer, stakeholders are better equipped to navigate a dynamic and evolving market and to allocate capital with confidence.

The European PBSA Legalities Report, developed by The Class Foundation in collaboration with Loyens & Loeff, with contributions from Osborne Clarke, GSK and other leading firms, provides latest comprehensive mapping of the legal, regulatory, and tax frameworks that govern student housing across eleven key European markets, including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

By providing country approaches and identifying systemic barriers and opportunities, the Legalities Report serves as a practical roadmap for navigating compliance, and informing cross-border investment and development strategies, while underscoring the importance of legal clarity and harmonised policy for scaling student housing across Europe.

The full report is available exclusively to The Class Foundation partners. To request access, please contact info@theclassfoundation.com.