Student housing had managed to survive the early days of the pandemic with relatively flat rent growth. That changed in December. After months of deceleration, student housing rent growth fell below -1%, according to a new report from Yardi. In December, student housing rent growth dropped to -1.3% year-over-year.

Yardi notes that this was a stark change for the market. Prior to the pandemic, student housing had enjoyed healthy rent growth that consistently came in at 3%. Still, the decrease in student housing rents still pales in comparison to market-rate multifamily housing, which has seen more significant decreases in rents. According to Moody's Analytics, apartment rents fell by 2.8% at the end of the year. By the end of the fourth quarter, they had already fallen 1.8%, well above the end-of-the-year decrease in rents.

Surging coronavirus cases during the pandemic sealed the industry's fate, driving rent negative growth. However, universities with no in-person classes had the most significant decrease in student housing rents. The list includes George Washington University, Georgetown University, the University of California-Riverside and the University of Utah. However, some universities that held partial in-person education weren't necessarily exempt. Student housing markets near Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee also experienced significant decreases in rental rates.