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Dozens of students slept in queues outside a letting agency through the night to secure university accommodation. Undergrads from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes took turns holding spaces in a queue at Finders' Keepers estate agents in St Clements, Oxford. They were all desperate to secure a place to live in their next year of studies. Some had queued for nearly 24 hours to get the perfect house or flat - having sat outside the agency on camping chairs until the 9am opening the next day. Armed with blankets, multiple layers of clothing, hot water bottles and hot drinks, they braved sub-zero temperatures to hold a place in the line. It is an increasingly common phenomenon across the UK due to student housing shortages. Video footage shows the queue for the agency this morning (28/11) amassing to around 100 people - with dozens showing up from 4am this morning. One pair of friends Milly Ashley, 19, and Will Johnson, 19, had held their first-place spot in the queue since 10am on Monday morning (27/11) to get their dream property. Milly, who studies business at Oxford Brookes University in Headington, said: "We tried to queue last week from 4:30am and there were already people camping out from 11 the previous night. "So, we decided to beat them this time around and go even earlier. "We got Domino's, had a good chat. It's been okay really. But I can't feel my feet at all, and I'm wearing four jumpers, leggings, joggers and a coat." Will, who studies property development at Oxford Brookes University, said: "Loads of people want to get the house we are going for - we've met 10 people today who are trying to get it. "It's probably the best four-bed property, and in a good place too, so we've just sat on these chairs all night. "It was absolutely freezing, I'm wearing three jumpers right now. It's so ridiculous that we have to be out here for so long - it's just a scam to drive up demand beyond belief. "The guys at the back, they always end up with the worst houses ever because they have to - they can't get anything. "Last week, we came at around 5am, and the queue was so large already that by the time we got in all the places we had wanted were already gone. "They told us that we could view one place, so we walked up to the house for a quick look around. By the time we had got there, before we even got upstairs they called us to say that the flat had already been let." In the end, the group successfully managed to get the house they wanted after the long wait. Milly and Will were joined by their friends Lily Ward, 19, and Charlie Harms, 19, who plan on living with them next year - and stuck it out for most of the night with them. The group were so prepared for the night in the cold, that they had even viewed the properties on their shortlist before they had even been made available to let by the agency. Lily said: "We knocked on a few people's doors last week and asked if we could look around before the houses went up. "It's been months of hunting for houses though - and we had to find out which houses would be available today well in advance by asking around friends and online. "We know a few second years, so we called them up and asked if they knew when their houses were becoming available." Will said that the agents at Finders' Keepers 'love' the queues - and find the whole situation quite funny. He added: "They love it. They literally left from work last and came out laughing at us, and one of them said 'have a nice cold night guys, we'll see you in the morning'. "I don't think they have much sympathy, I think they just find it all a bit funny - to be fair I would." Further down the queue Oxford University students Tom, 22, and his friend Jared, 22, were also waiting to get their dream house for them and their friends. Tom, a PhD student of planetary science, said he did not mind queuing as they were doing it voluntarily. He said: "We weren't quite so bad - but we heard yesterday at tea time that the queue was already growing so we dropped what we were doing and set ourselves up. "We've not been here all night - I've been here for about six hours, we've been rotating on two and a half hour shifts. I had to get up very early to get back here but I had a night's sleep so it's been okay. "My feet are pretty cold, but we're choosing to do it. It is freezing, but we can leave whenever we want - if we weren't waiting we would still get a place, it'd just not be as nice. "It's quite a stupid system, you think they would have a digital queue or something, but I don't know if this is just an artefact of the old way people used to get student accommodation or something. "Ultimately if we waited here or had a fixed queue, the outcome will be they'll always sell the houses they own anyway - so it's a bit unnecessary to make us queue." Jared, who studies modern middle eastern studies at St Cross College, added: "This is essentially just us deciding that, yes, it's a bit grim, but we would rather wait here for a night and get a nice place locked in. "We could leave it for ages, there are still usually houses available as late as May. I only got into a house in June last year, so this year we decided to just get it done early. "If you sort it in November it removes that stress, it's nice to know that it's all sorted and done - so you don't have to think about it for the rest of the year. "I suppose that the agents get useful information on what properties are most in demand this way, so next year they can ask for more rent or less. "We've pre-planned this with a shortlist, you sort of have to come prepared, but we're about seventh or eighth in the queue - so we should be fine." Oxford Brookes student paramedics Emma Baker and Ella Givens arrived later than most this morning and ended up at the back of the queue. The pair, who are hoping to find a place in Cowley, said they were 'surprised' to see such a large queue when they arrived - and that they may try queueing overnight if they fail to get a property today. Emma, 18, said: "We were told that there were people queuing overnight for five and six bed houses - but we didn't expect such a big queue for four beds too. "We weren't really willing to queue from four or five in the morning - there are some nice houses here but I think it's a bit much. "Hopefully we'll get somewhere, it's a bit ridiculous you have to queue for so long, especially as Oxford is such a student city." Ella, 19, said: "Our campus is a bit further away from the normal student areas in town - so fingers crossed we get somewhere despite the queue. "I just think we didn't realise just quite how bad the three and four bedroom houses were going to be wanted - maybe we were a bit delusional. "If there's a nice house we really want and we don't get anything today, we'll give queuing a go I think. I'm willing to give it a go - depending on whether our friends would too."