Two students at the University of Bristol who felt the Bristol property scene was “fragmented” have launched an app that brings together local estate agents and notifies users as soon as a property that fits their preferences is put on the market.
Kosuke Ono and Louis Harris, two third-year Engineering Mathematics students, came up with the idea for Housenote in December 2024 after struggling, as we all have, with the competitive nature of securing a property for their following year.
“We missed properties that we liked due to viewings being fully booked and not getting there fast enough”, they said.
They described the app as “a student housing search tool, which combines all the student listings in Bristol into one app and notifies students all day if a student property comes onto any property website”. The app currently takes on UOB or UWE students, in which you “simply log in with your uni email, set your preferences for budget, location, and number of bedrooms” so students “don’t miss out”.
The map feature places your selected university in the centre of the page and divides popular student areas into zones that you can select if you would like to live there.
“Users can quickly gauge the length of their commute to uni”, a student-specific feature on the app that “sets it apart from competitors who aren’t tailored to the speed of the student market”.
In the future, they are “aiming to have an AI rater to help students understand the pros and cons of a property and its value before viewing”. Housenote also “plans to have guides for students renting to help inexperienced first-time renters make informed choices on a large money investment”.
With over 60,000 students spread across both universities, housing competition is fierce; Louis and Kosuke argue that “the instant notifications mean you don’t have to do any searching”, in which students can “be proactive and get there first”.
