Those who come to Germany from abroad to study rarely have the time or means to set up a complete household before the start of the semester. This is exactly where the International Campus Group (IC), one of the leading investors, developers, portfolio holders and operators in the field of student housing and urban living concepts, comes in. The company is expanding its range of products under the THE FIZZ brand to include the new THE FIZZ Plus housing category: apartments that have everything from cooking utensils to bed linen that are necessary for an immediate start to student life. After a successful pilot project in Berlin and positive experiences in Vienna, the concept is now being rolled out at nine locations. The first will be THE FIZZ Plus apartments at locations in Aachen, Berlin, Bremen, Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Prague and Vienna; more are to follow by the 2027/28 academic year.
The background to this is a clear market development: According to the current JLL study “German PBSA Market Perspectives 2026”, around 469,500 international students will be studying in Germany in the winter semester 2025/26 – an increase of 46 percent compared to 2014. They now make up around 30 percent of all first-year students. What they lack is a housing market that is tailored to their situation: immediately available, fully furnished and with predictable all-inclusive rental costs. It is precisely this offer that has been developing only slowly so far. THE FIZZ is now closing this gap with THE FIZZ Plus.
THE FIZZ Plus goes beyond classic furnished apartments and complements them with features that make everyday life easier from day one. These include kitchen utensils, microwave, coffee machine, bed linen, Bluetooth speaker and projector or TV; the exact scope varies depending on the location. The apartments can be booked as a separate category. The surcharge is moderate depending on the location and apartment type and is part of the all-inclusive rental price.
“Around 80 percent of our tenants are international students – guest and Erasmus students as well as dual students. They are all united by one wish: to be able to move in immediately upon arrival without having to buy household items first. With THE FIZZ Plus, we are solving exactly this problem,” says Gawain Smart, CEO of the International Campus Group.
The pilot project at THE FIZZ Berlin Kreuzberg already achieved full occupancy in the first rental cycle, thus showing how great the actual demand is. The category is also very popular at the newly introduced locations. For the locations, it means additional revenue from the existing portfolio with manageable investment expenditure per apartment. There is also a sustainability aspect: Since many international students only stay at one location for one or two semesters, furniture and household items are often purchased new and disposed of again shortly afterwards. The equipment of the THE FIZZ Plus apartments, on the other hand, remains in the apartment and is checked, cleaned and replaced if necessary between the tenancies. Over its useful life, it thus replaces the purchases of several consecutive tenants.
“The response from the pilot project confirms that there is a clear market for high-quality all-inclusive apartments for students. With THE FIZZ Plus, we are specifically expanding our brand to include a segment that meets this demand and positioning ourselves as the first address for international students who do not want to compromise on the move-in experience,” says Christina Gentsch, Head of Sales of Marketing, Germany.
