The University of Tasmania will spend $50m building accommodation for 450 students, just blocks back from the Hobart waterfront. New vice chancellor Rufus Black announced the project yesterday. The development will be a built by a private investor and operated by the university, with rooms rented at standard UTas rates.  It is expected to house an even mix of domestic and international students.

Professor Black added the university would also find 200 beds for second semester this year, there are believed to be 150 students on the UTas accommodation wait list.

There is a housing shortage in Hobart caused by an extraordinary spurt of growth since 2016, including a rise in international student numbers and overall population now increasing at twice the recent rate. Residential vacancies are estimated by the university’s Institute for the Study of Social Change to be at an “historic low” of 0.3 percent.

Professor Black’s announcement came as local federal MP Andrew Wilkie (Ind-Denison) asked the PM for housing help for Tasmania in Question Time.