City, county and university seek housing for students

With an information event, the city and district of Hof and the Hof University of Applied Sciences want to promote the creation of more living space for students. On Tuesday, October 11 at 6:30 p.m., landlords, homeowners, real estate agents and other potential investors are therefore invited to the conference area of Hof’s Freiheitshalle. Attractive business models and support concepts as well as the possibilities of cooperation with the university are to be shown.

*Urgently sought: classic rooms for students; source: private;*

Hof’s university president Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Lehmann sums up the problem

The development of the region will depend to a large extent on whether we manage to train enough young people for specialized jobs in companies and at the university. One limiting factor for us as a university is now becoming increasingly apparent: we are increasingly lacking suitable living space for our students.”
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Lehmann

Acute housing shortage

There is now a shortage of around 200 apartments per semester when it comes to accommodating first-semester students. While there is always talk of building new dormitories, he said, even these would not be able to completely solve the shortage. “We are now also looking far away from our actual university locations, especially for our international students, which sometimes then brings transportation problems,” says Borbála Thurnay, who is directly confronted with market developments as the person responsible for “Housing.”

Borbála Thurnay, responsible for housing at Hof University of Applied Sciences;
Image: Hof University of Applied Sciences;

She knows: “Apartments are now becoming significantly more expensive, even in our country, precisely because there is not enough refurbished housing on the market.”

Advice for potential investors

But it is also clear from many conversations, she says, that many owners are toying with the idea of turning a vacant apartment into a student shared apartment, for example

Here, of course, together with the city and district of Hof, we are on hand to offer advice and support, and one thing is clear: such an investment can also pay off very quickly and generate continuous income.”
Borbála Thurnay

“In order to inform about appropriate business models, but also about the cooperation with the university, it now comes for the first time to a joint information event in the Freiheitshalle. “As the city of Hof, we naturally support the search of the Hof University of Applied Sciences to the best of our ability, because we know how important it is that we train motivated young people in the region and, in the best case, keep them here,” says Hof’s mayor Eva Döhla. District Administrator Dr. Oliver Bär concurs: “The growth of Hof University of Applied Sciences in recent years is a very positive indication of the changes taking place in our region. We must now work together to ensure that this development can continue. That’s why we want to encourage owners to invest in unused or underused housing to make it available to these students.”

Information about investment programs

Together, the city and district of Hof will therefore also provide information on October 11 about their own investment concepts such as the “Renovation and Construction Compass” and the “Renovation Consulting Voucher.” Katharina Hornfeck of the real estate offensive of the city of Hof as well as Stefan Rumpf of the vacancy management of the administrative district Hof are available for this as partners. In addition, an insight into the cooperation with the Hof University of Applied Sciences will be given through field reports from landlords.