As the 2024-2025 college/university school year approaches, student housing pre-leasing has been in full swing for several months. According to recent reports from RealPage Analytics and Yardi Matrix, pre-leasing occupancy remains strong but has slowed down compared to previous years.
RealPage analyzed data from 175 core universities and reported a current pre-lease rate of 78.6% as of May 2024, slightly lower than the same time last year (80.3%). The report also noted that this year’s rate is below the May 2022 rate for Fall 2023 (79.5%).
However, there are still some schools that have achieved high pre-lease occupancy rates above or at 90%, such as University of Mississippi, University of Arkansas and Virginia Tech which typically lease up quickly according to RealPage experts.
On the other hand, Yardi Matrix tracks beds at over200 universities and found that this year’s pre-leasing hit around80%, similar to last year’s numbers.However,the analysts did acknowledge a slower pace in recent months.
In terms of rent growth,Yardi Matrix reported an average rent per bedof $897in May,a significant increaseof5.3%fromlastyearandarecordhigh.RealPagesimilarlyreporteda4.8%rentgrowth,butnotedthatitisthelowestrateobservedsofarduringthispreleaseseason.Despite this overall trend,some schools have seen double-digit growth likeUniversityofTennessee(25%),UniversityofKentucky,andPurdueUniversitywithover10%.
Looking aheadtothesummermonths,YardMatrixanticipatesthatthepreleasemomentumwilllikelyslowdownasthestudentsleavecampus.However,theexpertsatRealPagesuggestthattherecouldbea5%increaseinpreleasemomentummonth-over-monthbasedonpreviousyears’patterns.
On the other hand,YardiMatrix’sanalystsexplainthatadelayinprocessingFreeApplicationforFederalStudentAid(FASFA)requestscouldimpactpreleasegrowthoverthenextthreemonths,especiallyatschoolsthatdependonincomingfreshmentofillremainingbedsinthesummer.
AccordingtoYardiMatrix,therehasbeenadeclineof10%inthecompletionrateoffinancialaidformsby2024highschoolseniorscomparedtothepreviousyear.Thiscouldpotentiallyaffectenrollmentgrowththisyearandbeyond,particularlyamonglower-incomestudentsandcommunitycolleges.
