Ultra-posh flats which cost in excess of £100,000 per year to rent are being lived in by a growing number of super-rich STUDENTS, it emerged yesterday.
Life for most undergraduates means grubby house shares and bland halls of residence.
But there is a new breed of silver spoon youngsters who are coming to the UK to study and they’re shunning traditional digs for the country’s most exclusive flats.
They eat at Blumenthals rather than Burger King, shop in Prada over Primark and snub Wetherspoons for Whisky Mist.
Some are spending almost four times the UK average salary of £26,000 on rent and enjoying the lifestyle of a seven-figure earner – all while studying for their degree.
They are living in some of the world’s most while surrounded by £40 million mansions occupied by oligarchs and oil tycoons.
It is a far cry from the 1980s comedy The Young Ones, where four undergraduates lived in a squalid house during their time at Scumbag College.
One luxury development, 65 Duke Street in Mayfair, is made up of 16 apartments where rents start at £1,950 per week.
A third of the tenants in the block are wealthy students from abroad and it is one of a number of developments where students pay a six-figure sum to live.
Peter Wetherell, boss of the Wetherell Estates which manages 65 Duke Street, said: “This is a 5-star building finished to an outstanding quality with an exceptional specification and now its providing student flats.
“It’s a world away from the type of accommodation that people normally associate with student digs.
“The overseas students in Mayfair originate from very wealthy privileged families from the Middle East, Asia, United States, Russia and India.
“The families want them to be in secure and luxurious ‘home from home’ accommodation, so provide them with chic apartments in high quality buildings.”
In London there are approximately 105,000 non-EU nationals who study full and part-time at university.
Around ten per cent of these have made the ultra-posh West End their home, living in areas occupied by business execs and financiers.
Hundreds of these youngsters are renting properties which cost more than £1,000 per week and a small number are paying more than £100,000 per year just for a roof over their head.
Mayfair, where it costs an average of £1,016 per week for a two-bedroom flat, is a particularly popular choice for the champagne-swilling students.
Around 35 per cent of tenants paying between £750 and £999 a week are at university, according to research by West End estate agent Wetherell.
The student community counts for 25 per cent of tenants in properties costing between £1,000 and £1,999 per week.
Around five per cent of properties let out for more than £2,000 per week are lived in by students.
There are 105,000 foreign students in London, contributing £1.5 billion a year to the capital’s economy through rents, education fees and spending in shops and leisure venues.
*Most expensive places to rent a two-bed in Prime Central London
Knightsbridge – £1,252 per week (average)
Mayfair – £1,016
Kensington High Street – £822
Marylebone – £761
Fitzrovia – £685
Victoria – £713
Covent Garden – £752
