The London and Moscow-based real estate consultancy purchased City Edge (pictured above) on a leasehold basis for £10.6m.

City Edge is located close to the Birmingham City University south campus, which is the subject of a £41m state-of-the-art expansion.

The block – which was converted from office space in 2016 – is fully tenanted and includes a ground-floor retail unit occupied by Guitar Guitar Limited with a combined income for the building delivering a net initial yield of 7.5%.

City Edge has a lease of 111 years and is currently managed by Homes for Students.

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Alisa Zotimova, founder and CEO of AZ Real Estate, said that this represented a significant acquisition with a strong long-term yield thanks to a buoyant student market.

“Birmingham is the UK’s second city, with an attractive ‘knowledge economy’ that will continue to prosper, giving us confidence in this investment for the future.

“The acquisition is also indicative of an emerging shift in investment trends, whereby clients are willing to forgo traditional trophy assets in favour of those with stronger long-term returns and projectable cash flow, many of which are now outside of the capital.”

AZ Real Estate advised the client on the whole process of transaction, while Knight Frank acted for the seller and McHale & Co acted as the solicitor.