Growthpoint, South Africa’s largest property company, will invest about R1.2bn in student housing by 2026, as it counts on rising demand from the sector to partly offset a slump in other areas.

The country’s student housing sector has a shortfall of up to 500,000 beds in the formal sector, according to a 2021 International Finance Corporation report, drawing interest from deep-pocketed real estate firms.

“I think what’s important to understand is that it’s a lack of institutional-type of accommodation,” George Muchanya, head of the company’s Growthpoint Investment Partners unit, said.

The investment comes when the listed South African real estate sector, categorised as real estate investment trusts (REITs), is under pressure to maintain dividends as the trend towards home working leaves acres of office space empty.

The impact was felt more in South Africa as hours of power blackouts every day forced REITs to funnel billions of rand into generators to keep the lights on.