Global Student Accommodation, one of the world’s largest student housing owners, expanded its U.S. portfolio with the purchase of five properties from Harrison Street in partnership with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing as international investors focus on student housing.

The properties add more than 1,600 beds to the London-based investor's growing U.S. holdings, which now encompass 46 properties across 23 states bought in less than two years.

Most college students returned to in-person learning in September of last year, giving a boost to the student housing property sector. Improving fundamentals brought investors back en masse, and while the research group Education Data Initiative said higher education enrollment has declined for 10 straight years, buyers are still pursuing college-related housing investments into the new school year, particularly near campuses with growing student bodies.

This latest transaction reinforces the plan by Global Student Accommodation and Morgan Stanley to become leaders in U.S. student housing through their joint venture partnership. The entity noted that institutional investors around the world, such as Global Student Accommodation, have been keen on U.S. student housing properties this year.

“These latest additions to our portfolio build on the momentum that we have had since entering the U.S. market at the start of 2021, where demand for student housing remains robust,” Robin Moorcroft, transaction director at Global Student Accommodation, said in a statement. “These properties enable us to consolidate our presence in key existing markets, while generating significant operational synergies locally.”

Global Student Accommodation did not disclose the purchase prices and only identified one of the properties: the 239-bed Ruckus on Rio serving the University of Texas at Austin.

The total portfolio consists of three properties in Austin, one in Flagstaff, Arizona, and one in Charleston, South Carolina.

The deal gives Global Student Accommodation access to the new market of Charleston, which is rapidly becoming a tech hub with a labor pool that’s grown three times faster than the U.S. average since 2010, according to the buyer.

Global Student Accommodation also touted the growth of student applications to the College of Charleston, which said on its website enrollment this year is 12% higher than last fall.

The Austin properties are complementary to Global Student Accommodation’s recently acquired Yugo Austin Waterloo in July and consolidate the firm’s presence in the city.

The seller, Harrison Street, is another major student housing institutional buyer. Global investment giant KKR and partners sold a 600-bed property in Tempe, Arizona, to Harrison Street for $108.5 million in June.

The market has seen other significant foreign investors jump into student housing in recent months.

In August, Landmark Properties announced plans to build student housing next to the largest U.S. universities to hold for long-term income with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The pair created a $1 billion venture in March to buy existing student housing properties.

In July, GFH Financial Group, based in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, acquired a $300 million student housing portfolio in Texas, Michigan and Missouri.

The biggest student housing deal of the year, concluded this summer, involved private equity giant Blackstone Group, which paid $12.8 billion cash for American Campus Communities.