National Student Housing Report – August 2025
Preleasing across Yardi 200 schools reached 89.9 percent in July, the latest Yardi Matrix student housing report shows.
Surveyed preleasing across Yardi 200 schools reached 89.9 percent in July for the 2025-2026 academic year, 170 basis points ahead of the same month last year, the latest Yardi Matrix student housing report shows. However, this figure was 120 basis points below July 2022 levels, also due to new communities being delivered.
More than 80 universities saw rents drop year-over-year as of July, up from 73 last month and only 34 in July 2024. Most of the markets affected by rent declines have new housing projects recently completed or set to open for the upcoming academic year.
Thirty-two of the Yardi 200 universities were less than 80 percent preleased as of July, but made progress over the past month. University of Texas at Arlington (62.5 percent, up 7.6 percent month-over-month) and Georgia Tech (79.6 percent, up 6.7 percent month-over-month) are some of the schools that showed improvement. Additionally, only 10 markets trailed last year’s figures by 10 percent or more, compared to 34 schools registered last month.
Rent growth continues to decrease
Rent growth across Yardi 200 universities fell to 0.9 percent. The average advertised asking rent dropped to $905 per bed, down from the $909 registered last month, as operators struggle to fill their remaining beds. This leasing season, rent growth averaged 2.8 percent from October to July, less than half the 5.7 percent registered last year and well below the 6.9 percent reached in 2024.
Fifteen student markets are set to be 100 percent leased for the next academic year. Some of the larger markets that are almost fully preleased include Western Carolina (99.6 percent), Virginia Tech (99.6 percent) and University of Kentucky (99.3 percent). A total of 59 markets outdid last year’s preleasing figures by more than 10 percent.
As of July, 50 student housing properties traded—less than the figures registered in the past two years. However, the number of beds sold was higher than in both 2023 and 2024. The average price per bed considerably increased, reaching $94,000, well above the $73,500 average recorded from 2020 through 2024.
