National Student Housing Report – July 2025
The advertised rent per bed was behind last month’s figure, per the latest Yardi Matrix national student housing report.
Preleasing at Yardi 200 universities reached 85.3 percent in June, up 160 basis points year-over-year and 20 basis points from June 2023, according to the latest Yardi Matrix student housing report.
College enrollment is set to rise this year as the number of high school graduates has peaked. However, challenges such as higher federal education funding cuts and reductions to student loan programs will affect the sector. Additionally, international student enrollment is also expected to decrease.
The average advertised asking rent per bed at Yardi 200 schools was $909 in June, up 1.3 percent year-over-year but below the $917 registered last month. Rent growth continued to decelerate, as operators focused on leasing remaining beds ahead of the fall semester. However, since January 2020, the average rent per bed has grown 23 percent.
Strong preleasing momentum ahead of the new academic year
Preleasing was already above 90 percent in 50 schools as of June and 27 had preleasing levels equal to or above last year’s September occupancy rate. Additionally, 10 universities were already fully preleased, including the University of Mississippi.
A total of 34 schools were ahead of last year’s levels by 10 percent or more, slightly down from the 40 markets recorded during the previous month. The University of Cincinnati (23.9 percent) saw the highest increase, followed by SUNY at Albany (22.2 percent) and University of California at Berkeley (21.8 percent).
At the opposite end of the spectrum, 20 markets were 10 percent or more behind last year’s figures, down from 24 last month. Some of the larger schools that were trailing last year included Purdue University (87 percent preleased, 9.7 percent behind), North Texas University (76.6 percent, 6.4 percent behind) and University of Arizona (83.6 percent, 6.2 percent behind).
Year-to-date as of June, 50 student housing assets changed hands—fewer than in the last two years, but the number of beds was higher. The average price per bed increased from the $73,500 average recorded from 2020 through 2024 to almost $94,000.
At the end of the first half of the year, there were 19,527 beds under construction across 1,500 universities. Additionally, 16,669 were in planning stages and more than 34,000 were classified as prospective.
