National Student Housing Report – July 2024
Preleasing reached 85 percent in June, according to the latest report from Yardi Matrix.
Surveyed student housing preleasing at Yardi 200 schools reached 85.2 percent in June, matching last years’ figure, according to the latest national student housing report by Yardi Matrix. The average advertised rent per bedroom reached $898 that month, marking a 5 percent increase year-over-year.
The preleasing pace has decelerated in June, as students return home for the summer, but was well above prepandemic levels. A total of 39 universities have already reached last year’s average occupancy rate of 94 percent, 13 of which were at least 99.7 preleased and 10 reached at least 99 percent preleased. The top schools for year-over-year growth in percentage preleased were Central Michigan (15.2 percent), University of Nebraska (15.2 percent), Bowling Green State (15.1 percent) and Mississippi State (14.2 percent).
A group of 27 schools had a surveyed preleasing rate under 70 percent, with many of these underperforming compared to last year’s pace. Most of these were smaller markets, but the list also included Washington State (65.6 percent preleased, 5.8 percent behind), the University of Cincinnati (63.7 percent preleased, 36.1 percent behind) and UT-Arlington (61.4percent, -15.4 percent).
Year-to-date through June, student housing sales recorded more than $1 billion in deals—nearly matching last year’s pace. Similarly to previous years, transaction volume is expected to pick up pace in the second half of 2024, as more properties approach their final lease-up rate.
This season’s rent growth averaged 6.1 percent
Rent growth has slowed since the beginning of the leasing season, when it reached a high of 6.9 percent, averaging at 6.1 percent for the season so far. The University of Tennessee had the highest rent growth, clocking in at 21.1 percent, while the University of Memphis was on the other end of the spectrum with -9.1 percent.
As student housing preleasing and enrollment are the two main factors influencing rent growth, the top four schools for rent growth had an average preleasing rate of 93.4 percent, coupled with 4.7 percent enrollment growth in 2023. Similarly, the bottom four averaged 67.4 percent preleased and had -1.1 percent enrollment growth. Tennessee and Purdue registered the strongest rent growth, but a few smaller universities stood out, such as Vermont (16.7 percent rent growth), San Jose State (15.8 percent), Oregon State (15.8 percent) and New Hampshire(15.6 percent).
