By Corina Pons and Iain Withers

MADRID/LONDON (Reuters) -Global investors are piling into Spain’s under-supplied student housing market as the country emerges as a top destination for international students willing to pay premium rents.

Cities from Madrid to Barcelona have seen an influx of overseas buyers and developers, attracted by the prospect of inflation-topping returns and international student numbers that have rocketed 77% in the past decade.

Spain is set for a record year for student housing sales, according to MSCI data, boosted by Canadian pension fund CPP’s 1.2 billion euro ($1.4 billion) purchase of Iberian student flats operator Livensa from Canada’s Brookfield.

U.S. developers Greystar and Hines – two of the biggest student landlords in Europe – told Reuters they were a

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