Teenage kicks, it appears, today include running a property for parents eager to clamber onto the buy-to-let ladder.

Where once they were happy with all-night parties and thumping music, rising numbers of 18 and 19 year-old university students now live in a term-time home that they either part-own with parents, or rent out and run for them.

Hacked off with handing over large sums in rent to landlords every month, it's no surprise that parents whose finances can stretch to a buy-to-let home or second property, are willing - despite current housing market woes - to think about snapping up a cheap house with their son or daughter as landlord who then rents out rooms to fellow students.

The benefits of a student buy-to-let are enticing: buying a house and letting out rooms should cover mortgage repayments and, at a push, even spare rent for your own child.

Then, when they graduate, you've a choice: sell the home - profiting, hopefully, from a rise in the property's price although tumbling prices have put the kibosh on short-term gains - or keep it as a longer-term investment and let it out to a new batch of student tenants.

University towns also hold great appeal for investors: the new flow of undergraduates into the area each year means you can usually bank on a steady supply of demand for rooms and buoyant property prices.

"The benefits of a student buy-to-let are enticing: buying a house and letting out rooms should cover mortgage repayments and, at a push, even spare rent for your own child."

According to an annual survey of university towns average house prices in Manchester, home to the UK's largest student population outside of London, soared by nearly two-thirds between 2003 and 2008: compare this to just 44% for the UK's overall average house price rise.

Falling prices have also helped push down prices recently: small three-bedroom houses in Birmingham, in the heart of Selly Oak student quarter, can now be picked up for less than £130,000 while similar properties in Bristol's Montpelier area can cost around £200,000.

Yet while the gloomy outlook for house prices will have an impact on the returns to be made from such an investment - it's worth remembering that buying a student home for offspring isn't just about making the numbers add up.

It can an invaluable way to reduce worry and stress about your children having to deal with rip-off landlords and poor-quality houses and safety, since you'll be the owner effectively in charge, and so can take steps to ensure peace of mind; even better, putting your student son or daughter in charge of administering the rent and running the home can also instil a degree of financial responsibility, although they might not see it like that!

For anybody keen to buy a student home and who's prepared to invest for the long-term - at least five years or so - a handful of clear choices is on offer.

First, and most ideal for those with either plenty of savings or a home from which you can easily tap into equity, you could buy the home outright and neatly sidestep the issue of a buy-to-let loan.

"Buying a student home for offspring isn't just about making the numbers add up: it can be an invaluable way to reduce worry and stress about your children facing rip-off landlords and poor-quality houses and safety."

But for most who will need to get their hands on a second mortgage, a 'joint residential mortgage' on a second property can be taken out: available from many lenders, it'll let your child be party to the mortgage despite their having no salary or income.

The bigger the deposit you can put down, says Andrew Montlake of mortgage broker Cobalt Capital, the better the deal. "If you've a 25% deposit on the property, then you'll be given access to the best rates going."

That's not all: to work out what interest rate to charge you, most lenders will factor in your salary and that of your partner (after all, your student child isn't bringing home any money) and also subtract the size of any outstanding mortgage on your current home from the overall amount you can take out. Now if a joint residential mortgage doesn't add up, you could opt for a mainstream buy-to-let loan instead.

This won't be easy, though: you'll almost certainly have to stump up a hefty 25% deposit and not all buy-to-let lenders are happy about letting out a house to students; a specialist adviser will be helpful in this scenario.

Despite the tougher mortgage market, it can also be worth persevering with the deal thanks to attractive tax breaks.

Add the Government's special £4,250 'rent-a-room' allowance - allowing this much in rental income to be earned tax-free for a let furnished room in a house - to your student child's own personal income tax allowance of £6,035, and you should be able to, in most cases, have no or little income tax to pay on the rental income.

And when you eventually sell the house, generous rules that govern any property that acts as a main residence mean that if your student child simply lives in the house as the sole occupant for a short spell - perhaps, typically, over term summer holidays - the last three years of ownership will be exempt from capital gains tax (at 18%).

Crucially, this is still the case even if the house is let out after your child has left.

By Sam Dunn