Student Housing Growth Gives Hints of Normalizing
“March’s month-over-month rent growth of 0.7% looks more usual from a historical perspective.”
There’s no shortage of students in need of housing near university campuses. This year, demand for rentals was so great that by March pre-leasing activity had reached its highest ever total for this time of year. Annual effective rent growth for student apartments also “easily overshadowed” others in recent history.
But on a monthly basis, the picture was a little different. The 7.6% uptick from February to March in pre-leasing was below the average of 9% for this time of year and rent growth was more moderate, according to RealPage, a technology platform that provides data insights on rental spaces.
As of March, 65.7% of beds at the core 175 universities tracked by RealPage had been leased for the fall school year. Properties within a half-mile of campus fared best with a 67.7% pre-lease rate. The rate for beds more than a mile away was 64.1% and for those in between 60.5%.
However, the analysis also found significant differences between schools. Some had pre-lease occupancy rates above 90%. These included the University of Tennessee, Appalachian State, Purdue, the University of Arkansas, the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Clemson, College of Charleston, the University of North Carolina and the University of Pittsburgh.
Commuter schools, satellite campuses of larger flagship universities, or colleges where enrollment has stagnated tended to have lower pre-lease sign-ups. These schools were also more likely to see annual rent declines.
“As of March, annual effective rent growth hit 9.7% across the RealPage 175. That’s a far cry from the days of 2% annual rent growth that were more normal pre-Covid,” the company reported. “Still, March’s month-over-month rent growth of 0.7% looks more usual from a historical perspective.”
Annual effective rent growth hit at least 9% regardless of distance, with units closest to campus just shy of 10%. Three schools had rent growth above 20% — the University of Arkansas, Arizona State, and Florida International – while more than 40 saw annual increases of between 10 and 20% as of March.