National Student Housing Report – April 2025
Annual rent growth recorded the largest decrease in six years, according to Yardi Matrix’s latest data.
Estimated preleasing for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year reached 67.1 percent in March—higher than the 65.1 percent estimate at this point in 2024, according to the latest student housing report from Yardi Matrix. Rent growth continued to cool, falling to 2.5 percent—down from 3.4 percent in February.
As more data is collected, the estimated 67.1 percent rate for March will likely decrease, similarly to previous years. For context, the December 2024 preleasing rate of 47.1 percent estimated by Yardi Matrix has now shrunk to 41.1 percent, with the addition of fresh data.
As of March, a group of 34 universities reached or exceeded the 80 percent preleased mark. The best-performing large student housing markets in this category were Virginia Tech (93 percent preleased), Alabama (92.8 percent), Kentucky (91.3 percent), Wisconsin (90.3 percent), James Madison (89.5 percent) and Mizzou (88.9 percent).
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At the opposite end of the spectrum, 41 markets were less than 50 percent preleased in March, with many behind last year’s pace. The list included Utah Valley (25.3 percent preleased, 19.9 percent behind), UNCGreensboro (32.4 percent, 14.7 percent behind), the University of Houston (32.8 percent, 12.6 percent behind) and UTArlington (33.4 percent, 5.6 percent behind).
Rent growth ticked down significantly in March
The average annual rent growth in March stood at 2.5 percent, marking a 3.4 percent decrease since the previous month—the largest decline in the past six years. The average rent per bed remained at record highs and hit $918 that month, ticking up $1 since February.
A slowing preleasing rate, coupled with new student housing development mostly in larger markets has been negatively impacting rent growth. For example, Tennessee had 3,261 beds under construction and rent growth at -6 percent in March 2025, compared to 22.6 percent rent growth in March 2024.
Enrollment data for the fall 2024 academic year gathered from 183 universities points towards 1.7 percent year-over-year growth, according to the student housing report. Annual enrollment growth is on the rise, as in fall 2023, the jump reached 1.2 percent. Primary state schools registered the largest enrollment increases, opposed to tertiary state and private universities, which saw the biggest declines.
