Nearly 70 students in Dundee have been left scrambling for accommodation after Marketgait Apartments, a city centre housing block, went into administration in mid-July. The operator had been actively marketing the building to students just weeks beforehand. This collapse exemplifies a broader crisis in the UK student housing sector, driven by falling international student numbers (down for a third consecutive year), cost-of-living pressures, and higher borrowing costs that have left providers unable to meet essential maintenance obligations.

The 116-room building, located within ten minutes of Abertay and Dundee universities, had charged £199 weekly for studios and £165 for en suite rooms. The owners, real estate manager 90 North and Kuwaiti investment company Rasameel, failed to repay a £5.7 million loan against the property after dwindling student numbers generated financial losses. Students were given approximately one month's notice to vacate, many of whom had signed contracts to stay for the following year. Those studying abroad faced particular hardship, paying third-party storage fees to keep their belongings as they could not physically return to collect items. The broader sector faces acute regional imbalances: oversupply has led to collapses in Coventry, Leeds and Nottingham, whilst Glasgow, Bristol and London experience shortages, with purpose-built modern housing increasingly priced beyond the reach of domestic students.