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ORLANDO-Off campus university student housing rents are rising and are expected to increase still further over the next few years, according to a new study by locally based Smith Equities Inc. The firm has been tracking this specialty shelter market for the past 10 years.

The study shows average monthly rents at apartments rented by the bed are $933 for a single bedroom; $590 per bed at two-bedroom apartments; $545 per bed at three-bedroom properties; and $509 per bed at four-bedroom buildings. At properties rented by the apartment and not by the bed, the average one-bedroom unit is $708 per month; two bedroom, $874; three-bedroom, $1,353; and four-bedroom, $1,790.

"Rents for 2006 and 2007 are climbing at almost every complex and one or two student housing managers tell me that they expect to raise rents again [shortly]," says broker Paul M. Guyet, a student housing specialist at Smith Equities.