Federal government plans to crimp foreign student numbers – which the property industry says will do little to lower rents and improve affordability – have also prompted universities to reconsider planned student accommodation projects, Richard Crookes Construction says.

The Sydney-based contractor, whose owners gave it a $30 million capital injection in February, said conditions in the wider market had stabilised and the costs of some imported materials were even falling, but its $15 billion pipeline of projects could be hit as a result of the student caps.