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Student accommodation providers Unite said valuation of its properties continue to outperform the wider market as it raised £58m of equity in the third closing for its Unite Student Accommodation Fund.

"Valuations of student accommodation property continue to outperform the wider real estate sector and are well supported by transactional evidence," said chief financial officer Joe Lister.

The group said a total of £58m of unconditional equity commitments have been received from third party institutional investors, of which £26 million has been subscribed by four new investors, taking the total third party equity commitments in the fund to £428m

"We are pleased to have concluded this further round of fundraising in extremely challenging market conditions. The new equity raised, at a small premium to net asset value, increases the Fund's surplus investment capacity to £380m, which it will use to acquire student properties from UNITE later this year and in 2009," said Lister.

"We are also delighted to highlight an exceptionally strong reservations performance, with 99% of the portfolio occupied for the current academic year. With future rental growth anticipated, student accommodation is well positioned to withstand these challenging economic conditions," he added.

The Fund's estimated Net Asset Value as at 30 September 2008 was £1.012 per unit, representing a decrease of 3.9% in the quarter and 0.8% decrease for the year year to date, predominantly attributable to a negative movement in the market value of interest rate swaps held by the Fund.

Its property portfolio was independently valued at £769m, which after taking account of the sale of assets during the quarter, represents a decrease of 0.2% in the underlying gross property values in the period.