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).
