Students are back on campus, and the final pre-lease take for the Fall 2023 academic year is not yielding exactly the same strong grade as it did a year ago when it reached an all-time high. But it's still well above the pre-pandemic norms and showing strong performance, according to RealPage recently released data.

As of last month, August, when many students returned to their purpose-built student housing (PBSH) near but off campus, 94.4% of "beds"—how student rooms are measured–at the core 175 universities RealPage tracked were pre-leased for the Fall school year. That was a bit below last year's record of 95.7% but far above a typical pre-COVID-19 final pre-lease reading that was around 90%. The pace of pre-leasing slowed in the final months of the pre-leasing season or over the course of the end of summer due to fewer beds available to lease and fewer students on campus to lease them.

Percentages vary a bit according to how close to campus these PBSH buildings are. Those within a half mile are the most desirable since students can almost roll out of bed and be at class, a library, food hall, gym or other destinations. Their pre-leasing rate was 94.6% Those a bit farther away–about a mile–were 94.5% leased. Those falling in between those distances were 93.1% pre-leased.