Student housing market stays strong in summer 2024
By Quinn Purcell, Managing Editor
As the summer season winds down, student housing performance remains strong. Preleasing for Yardi 200 schools rose to 89.2% in July 2024, falling just slightly behind the same period last year. Averaged advertised rent per bed was $897 in July—up 4.7% year-over-year (YOY) according to the Matrix Student Housing National Report for August 2024.
Yardi Matrix Student Housing Preleasing Trends
The student housing sector still has 5% left to grow to match the 94.6% occupancy level of Fall 2023. Despite this slowdown, 41 schools have already surpassed that preleasing level this year, and 19 schools are over 99% preleased as of July.
The markets under 75% preleased are mostly secondary and tertiary state schools, as well as private universities, according to the report.
Student Housing Rent Growth – August 2024
Rent growth in the student housing market is far beyond the growth in conventional multifamily. Student housing rent growth has averaged 6% since October 2023, compared to the average growth of 0.7% for multifamily in the same time.
Yardi Matrix predicts that 41,432 beds will be delivered to Yardi 200 schools in 2024, a 5% decrease from the total in 2023. This updated prediction for 2024 lowers Yardi's forecast for 2025 to be below 40,000 beds, while increasing the 2026 prediction to 33,805.
A few of the top preleased schools in July 2024 include University of Missouri (98.3%), Purdue University and University of Kentucky (both 98.1%), and Virginia Tech (97.6%). A few schools still have several hundred beds under construction, such as University of Wisconsin (4,047 beds), Florida State University (3,591), University of Tennessee (3,265), and University of Texas (3,170).