Student AccommodationBen JacksonThu 09 Jul 26
Too Big to Ignore: Get Inside the Student Housing Revolution
Australia’s international education sector is rebounding. Housing shortages are intensifying across every major university city. And purpose-built student accommodation has become one of the country’s most sought-after alternative asset classes.
The numbers tell the story. Transaction volumes topped $1.88 billion in 2025, yet only 6 per cent of students can access a purpose-built bed.
That gap is the opportunity—and The Urban Developer PBSA Summit is where the industry comes to understand it.
To be held on Thursday, August 20 at Gate 8 in Melbourne, the one-day summit will bring together the developers, investors, operators, universities and advisers shaping the future of student accommodation.
Here’s what is on the program, making this a must-attend event.
Australia’s Student Housing Boom: Navigating the Next Investment Cycle
Cushman & Wakefield director of living sectors capital markets Paul Savitz opens the day with a keynote on the forces driving the next investment cycle, drawing on two decades advising on the sector’s most significant transactions across Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
Policy and the Appetite of Offshore Capital
Urbis partner Clinton Ostwald examines what offshore capital is targeting, how operational performance is influencing valuations and where investors see long-term opportunity.
Making the Numbers Work: Delivering PBSA Projects in a Challenging Market
Scape chief executive Anouk Darling leads the country’s largest PBSA platform with more than $13 billion in assets and more than 20,000 beds.
She will be joined by Marquette managing director Toby Lewis, whose firm converted a Brisbane office building into a 1200-bed PBSA asset in partnership with Dexus.
The Partnership Model: Universities, Developers and the Future of PBSA Delivery
Point Polaris managing director Andrew Hogan has advised on developments valued at more than $40 billion.
He joins Dexus general manager of developments James Curtin, currently leading a Brisbane office-to-PBSA conversion, and La Trobe University director of sustainability, masterplanning and systems Jodie Harris to examine the structures shaping university-aligned accommodation.
Behind the Project: 570 Little Bourke Street
MaxCap head of equity investment Simon Hulett and UniLodge Living Group chief executive Tomas Johnsson go behind the scenes on their joint-venture development of an 892-bed PBSA tower on the western edge of the Melbourne CBD.
Fireside: Inside Cedar Pacific
Cedar Pacific chief investment officer David Hill closes the day. Cedar Pacific has delivered more than 10,000 PBSA beds totalling more than $3 billion in assets, with a growing pipeline across build-to-rent and co-living.
The program also features case studies on retrofitting existing PBSA assets and the technology transforming the resident experience.
Tickets are on sale now—do not delay, this event will sell out.
