Student Housing Unlocked: The Equation Behind Success in a Localized Sector

April 25, 2024

Core Spaces’ CIO of Student Housing delves into what it’s like to build communities in today’s landscape and the company’s approach.

Brendan Miller, Core Spaces' CIO of Student Housing — At Core Spaces, Brendan Miller handles the company’s investment strategy and coverage of capital partner relationships for ground-up developments and acquisitions. *Image courtesy of Core Spaces*

Despite ongoing volatility and uncertainty in the economic sector, the student housing market has performed better than other assets, maintaining an uptick in preleasing and units under construction. Major players in the field, such as Core Spaces, managed to pencil student housing deals and even kick off projects nearing 2,000 beds. With a portfolio of 70 properties, serving over 40 institutions and almost 3,000 units under development, the company has been at the forefront of a localized market, as Brendan Miller, chief investment officer of Student Housing, believes.

In our third episode of Student Housing Unlocked, Multi-Housing News’ Associate Editor Olivia Bunescu is joined by Miller to discuss the challenges in the sector when it comes to developing and delivering new communities, what students want nowadays, as well as Core Spaces’ business approach and values.

LISTEN TO: Student Housing Unlocked: Trends and Shifts Driving Demand in 2024

Here are the main ideas discussed in this episode:

Tailoring projects to fit the needs of today’s students (01:13)
Student housing is a very localized business, particularly for developments (2:50)
The construction timeline is one of the major challenges in the sector (3:50)
Effective strategies for tackling rising construction costs (6:13)
Choosing the right partners for student housing projects (9:04)
“You can be a quarter mile from campus, but you could be a quarter mile from the wrong side of campus.” (10:32)
Core Spaces’ portfolio performance (13:00)
Factors that make projects stand out (14:33)
How can you successfully enter a new market? (17:09)
The calculus on how to pick a market (18:45)
Advantages of being vertically integrated (21:11)
How to become a “people company” (22:33)
Keeping the focus on Top Tier markets and being an active buyer (24:35)
Trends that will further shape the student housing sector (26:20)