National Student Housing Report – February 2025
An update on preleasing, rents and more, according to Yardi Matrix’s latest data.
Preleasing for the fall 2025 season reached 54.6 percent as of January 2025—up from the 48.2 percent recorded a year prior, according to the latest student housing report from Yardi Matrix. Meanwhile, rent growth at Yardi 200 institutions continued on a decelerating trend.
As more data is collected, the partially estimated January 2025 preleasing rate of 54.6 percent will most likely decrease. For context, the reported preleasing rate in December 2025 was estimated at 47.1 percent and dropped to 44.7 percent following the addition of fresh data.
A total of 46 schools were at least 60 percent preleased as of January 2025, including 17 markets that reached or exceeded the 80 percent mark. Some of the best-performing universities were Mizzou (90.8 percent preleased), Wisconsin (83.7 percent), Alabama (81.3 percent), James Madison (79.4 percent), Auburn (79 percent) and Purdue (76.7 percent).
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The cluster of 34 markets with the lowest rates, namely under 30 percent preleased, included Southern California (9 percent), Brigham Young (20.1 percent), UNC-Greensboro (21.4 percent), UT-San Antonio (23.7 percent), Temple (26.9 percent) and UC-Davis (28.1 percent).
Rent growth continues to slow
According to the student housing report, the average advertised rent per bedroom reached $911 in January—marking a 3.2 percent uptick year-over-year. Still, rent growth has been slowing consistently this leasing season and has averaged 4 percent, below the past two years.
A total of 21 schools posted double-digit annual rent growth in the first month of 2025, while 51 markets registered rent declines year-over-year through January. Rent growth has varied from 24.6 percent at Ole Miss, to -15.8 percent at UC-Berkeley.
In many markets, rent growth and the preleasing pace have been correlated—partially attributed to enrollment changes and new deliveries. The top ten markets for rent growth averaged 60.1 percent preleased in January, while enrollment for the current school year across these institutions increased by an average of 5.4 percent year-over-year.
In 2024, the student housing sector registered 35,703 new bed completions, down from the 44,746 beds delivered in the previous year. Yardi Matrix predicts this trend to continue in the years to come, with new supply deliveries estimated to fall to 32,100 beds in 2025 and 33,995 beds in 2026.
