They, along with other presenters, stressed how well student housing did during the downturn. Other reasons for optimism:

• Demand is on the rise: The student population is growing, thanks to the influx of echo boomers and more high schoolers choosing to move on to college, as well as readily available student loans. Plus, it’s taking longer than the typical four years for many students to obtain a degree. One oft-repeated statistic was 1.5% annual growth in college enrollment for at least the next few years.
• Continued revenue growth: Rents are rising, as are the pace of leasing and renewals. Operators expect to see revenue figures soar in the next decade.
• Supply is in check: Developers have been smart about building new product.
• Capital sources like it: Operators and developers with good track records are having few issues finding institutional equity and attractive debt.

It’s not as if the economy hasn’t impacted the sector at all; many private universities are losing funding as donations decline. But even that is presenting opportunities: large, state universities are still getting public funding, and with the rising costs of higher education, more students are choosing to attend lower-cost public schools. And, even with the private institutions, developers could build housing on campus and just pay ground rent to the school. And for those who don’t want to operate the facilities, third-party development has great prospects as well.

To be sure, student housing does have its share of challenges. For instance, you’re not only catering to one set of tenants, you’d be catering to the students, their parents as well as the university—at least, in the case of on-campus housing. There are also technical issues to sort through; there’s little in the way of operating software for the sector, and figuring out the use and payment of utilities can be tricky.

But for those willing to take on these hurdles—or, at least, hire an experienced property manager to oversee their assets—student housing is a great option to consider. As the speakers at NMHC’s conference concurred, the next year should be a “banner” one for the sector, and it will only go up from there.

So if student housing isn’t yet on your radar screen, it should be. And we’ll see just how much better the sector is doing next year, as industry professionals gather for the RealShare Student Housing conference. It’s going to be held at the Four Seasons Resort and Spa Dallas at Las Colinas, TX on May 9-10—maybe I’ll see you there!