Kingston, Brighton, Edinburgh and Durham are among the top places to invest in student property in the UK, according to Knight Frank's latest report on the sector.

The report identifies the top 20 of the UK's 66 university towns and cities for investment potential. Leading the list is London, followed by Kingston, Brighton, Edinburgh, Oxford, Durham, Manchester, St Andrew's, Bristol and Exeter, (see the report for the full list and associated commentary).

The towns and cities were selected based on factors such as the latest student intake figures and five-year growth patterns as well as the composition of that growth, including the split between undergraduate, postgraduate and international students.

The list also considers the volume of university-owned accommodation and purpose-built private accommodation available, the underlying value of development sites in each location, and the number of international students as a percentage of all full-time students, with the highest being in St Andrew's at 47.3%, followed by London at 35%.

With 291,000 full-time students enrolled across 40 higher education institutions, London remains a hub of student activity, boasting a large proportion of postgraduate as well as international students. But only 15.4% of its students are housed in university-owned accommodation. Knight Frank's student property team believes London needs a further 100,000 student bedrooms providing transport-accessible, value accommodation in the £150-£200 per week price range.

Also included in the report are the results of Knight Frank's Student Property Index, with student property in the regions performing well due to an imbalance in supply and demand. In the year to December 2010, total returns - income and capital values - in the regions were 14.65% against London's 8.41%. Average rents in regional cities rose 4.1%, while London fell by -3.6%.

James Pullan, Knight Frank's head of student property, said: "The student accommodation sector is now recognised as forming a critical component of a balanced investment portfolio. Our Student Property Index is the only investment index in the sector that demonstrates investment performance of this specialist asset class. Total returns in 2010 for student accommodation in the regions performed well, with regional accommodation only marginally underperforming the IPD All Property Index."

For more details on these and other findings see the report.