Leading Australian developer Crown Group is developing six new residential apartment developments near six of the world’s top 200 university cities, according to the new QS World University Rankings 2020. Savvy investors are taking advantage of buying the best investment properties close to reputable universities – the types of home that are in limited supply, said Crown Group.

“Australia, as one of the world’s best cities, presents a unique offering to overseas students especially from Asia. Australia is the closest western country to Asia with the same time zone, better weather and quality of life,” said Crown Group Director of Sales Prisca Edwards.

“As for overseas students studying in Australia, they want to live as close to their university as possible, just as families want to live close to their kids’ schools. For this reason, a property close to renowned world class universities is always one of the safest and most profitable purchases a savvy investor can make – and this is what makes Crown Group’s apartments so appealing to overseas buyers.”

According to latest QS World University Rankings 2020 released on 19 June 2019, Australian universities performed well and improved overall performance in the global ranking, with nine ranked among the top 200.

The QS World University Rankings is an annual publication by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Previously known as Times Higher Education–QS World University Rankings, the publisher had collaborated with Times Higher Education magazine to publish its international league tables.

The rankings measure a university's academic reputation, graduate employability, student-to-staff ratio, research performance and international student ratio across 1000 universities, 82 different locations, 94,000 academics surveys, 44,000 employers' responses, 11.8 million research papers and 100 million citations.

Crown Group recognises the opportunity hence many of the developments are developed within the university radius. It now has six remarkable residential developments underway close to six of the world’s most popular universities, including the University of Melbourne (38), the University of Sydney (42), the University of NSW (43), the University of Queensland (47), Monash University (58) and the University of Technology Sydney (140).

Four Crown Group developments are underway within 5km of Sydney’s centre, where three of the world’s highest-ranking universities are located. Infinity by Crown Group in Green Square and Waterfall by Crown Group in Waterloo are nearing completion and ready for residents to move into soon. Both offer stylish new studios, one, two and three-bedroom apartments, for sale or for rent.

Mastery by Crown Group in Waterloo and Eastlakes Live by Crown Group in Eastlakes also offer stunning lifestyle apartments for sale, just a few kilometres from the city, international airport and the best universities.

In addition, Crown Group’s first residential development in Melbourne’s Southbank is close to the University of Melbourne and Monash University; while its first development in West End, Brisbane, is only a few minutes’ drive from the University of Queensland.

“There are many advantages of investing in a property close to world-class universities - higher demand, higher rental returns, higher capital gains, lower vacancy rate, better infrastructure and support from the government,” Mrs Edwards said.

“It has a flow-on effect. The quality of education providers will have a favourable effect on the quality of the area. Good universities attract a higher class of residents, and then an increasing amount of private and government investment in local infrastructure – eventually adding more value to properties in the area.”

“Apartment prices near the world’s best universities will then be driven up by unprecedented demand – smart investors always know what to buy and where to buy.”