There has been a steady slowdown in new supply of PBSA from a peak of 30,000–35,000 beds p.a. in 2017-2019 to around 10,000 beds delivered in 2025 net of beds leaving the market. This reflects delays to development deliveries resulting from planning and regulatory backlogs as well as more restrictive funding conditions for developers. Weekly rents now need to be in excess of £230 for new development to be viable, concentrating new supply in a handful of markets. We have updated our capital allocation framework in response to the trends seen in the 2025/26 sales cycle. We will focus on delivering university partnerships ahead of traditional off- campus development and accelerate capital recycling through £300–400 million p.a. of disposals. We expect to generate £100–200 million p.a. of surplus capital which will be allocated to university partnerships and share buybacks. This approach will deliver attractive total accounting returns, be accretive to earnings and maintain a robust balance sheet. Our cost of capital has increased as reduced visibility over lettings performance has been reflected in increased risk premia. Increased letting risk and extended development programmes have made new off-campus developments hard to justify without an improvement in financial returns and university support through a nomination agreement. Universities are focusing their investment on their academic estates and deferring spend on accommodation in the face of tighter funding restrictions. To meet their accommodation guarantees to UK first year and international students, universities need new accommodation to grow their student numbers and increasingly see availability of accommodation as a barrier to growth. The stock of student housing in the HMO sector is also expected to reduce as a result of increasing regulation for private landlords through the Renters’ Rights Act. Rising stamp duty land tax, income tax and capital gains taxes will also reduce financial returns available for landlords in the sector. This will result in additional costs for HMO landlords which we expect to be reflected in higher rents for students living in HMOs and may see some choose to exit the market. WHAT IT MEANS FOR UNITE STUDENTS • Limited new supply increases visibility of the supply and demand ratio in our cities. New deliveries may take time to stabilise in more fully supplied markets. • Universities increasingly looking to partners, including Unite Students, to meet their accommodation needs. • Lower supply of HMO properties and increasing costs for tenants in the HMO sector create an opportunity to retain more customers who might otherwise move into the HMO sector. WHAT IT MEANS FOR UNITE STUDENTS • We will optimise value from developments where we own the land but have not started construction. • University joint ventures remain an attractive and significant growth opportunity and we are targeting one new partnership each year. • We will accelerate our disposal programme to £300–400 million p.a. and increase our alignment to the highest- quality universities to 80%. • We will generate surplus capital from disposals and consider share buybacks where they offer an opportunity to grow earnings while maintaining the strength of our balance sheet. 6 Competing supply 7 Capital allocation THE UNITE GROUP PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2025 07