HFF Hires to Tap Into Student Housing Market

INDIANAPOLIS-Brian Kelly, Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP’s new hire as a director and member of the company’s national multifamily group, tells GlobeSt.com that the firm wants to grab at more of today’s lucrative student housing market. With a record rise of new freshmen entering US colleges, reportedly more than 18 million this September, universities across the country are struggling to find housing for students, even going as far as leasing out nearby hotels. A predicted 11% jump in student enrollment in the next decade, dominated by the “Echo Boomers” for the next two or three years, is pushing more and more developers and investors into the student housing market with possible double-digit returns.

He joined the firm Wednesday after a few years building relationships with national student housing developers and owners as a senior housing investment specialist with Marcus & Millichap. The company could not be reached for comment about his departure. “The affiliation with the debt markets will really help my investors,” Kelly says.

Wall Street, which has taken a beating the last few days, has been very comfortable with student housing, he says. “It’s really been the hot niche of multifamily, in the past 10 years it’s been sought after more and more every year,” Kelly tells GlobeSt.com. “Right now it’s perceived as insulated from the economic swings, some have even called it recession proof.”