Unite sells King's Place development site for £60m

(Sharecast News) - Student accommodation provider Unite Group has sold its 444-bed King's Place development site to an affiliate of Far East Orchard for £60m. Unite said on Wednesday that the disposal was part of its strategy to realise value from development land and other non-student assets. The sale was priced at a 3% discount to its June 2026 book value and was expected to complete in mid-October. It was already incorporated into the group's adjusted earnings guidance of 41.5p to 43p for FY26, which remains unchanged.

The FTSE 250-listed firm has now agreed or completed disposals totalling £200m in 2026 at a weighted average NOI yield of 3%, including a number of non-income producing sites.

Unite added that it has a number of further disposal processes underway to support its strategy of increasing alignment to the UK's strongest universities. As a result, the company stated it remains on track to deliver £300m to £400m of disposals in 2026.

Chief executive Joe Lister said: "The sale of King's Place is evidence of our capital discipline and proactive capital recycling programme. It successfully realises value from a development project which no longer meets our return requirements and reflects our focus on delivering the best outcomes for shareholders. We are moving at pace to further increase our alignment to the strongest universities and remain on track to deliver £300-400m of disposals this year."

As of 1000 BST, Unite shares were 1.95% higher at 480.40p.







Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

See latest RNS on Sharecast