The Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund has been valued at over £1 billion, the London-listed firm has reported.

The fund's net asset value on 31 December was independently valued £0.762 per unit. This was an increase of 6.6 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2009 (30 September 2009: £0.715 per unit), and of 1.2 per cent during the whole year (31 December 2008: £0.753 pre unit).

In the 12 months to December 2009, the value of the property portfolio held throughout the year increased by 1.1%. Rents grew by 8.4 per cent over the same period.

Unite said that these movements, and the acquisition of new assets in December, meant that the average net yield of the fund's portfolio on 31 December stood at 6.84 per cent.

"The Fund's net asset value performance in the fourth quarter and throughout 2009 reflects the student accommodation sector’s ongoing outperformance of the broader market," said Unite's chief financial officer Joe Lister. "The combination of modest compression in yields, and further quarterly rental growth resulted in 3.4% growth in the Fund’s property values during the fourth quarter."

The Unite UK Student Accommodation fund currently includes 19,468 beds in 58 properties.