Student housing preleasing has started out strong for the 2025-26 school year. According to Yardi Matrix, preleasing reached 47.1% in December for the Yardi 200 schools, up from 39.7% in December 2023. Yardi Matrix noted this is about even with its estimate last year and will likely slow as more data points are collected.
Fifty-five of the Yardi 200 schools had preleasing over 50% as well as 14 over 75% as of December. Forty-two schools were under the 25% preleasing mark, with many lagging behind last year’s pace. This includes University of North Carolina Wilmington; University of North Carolina Greensboro; University of California, Davis; and Temple University.
“Early enrollment data shows another year of accelerating growth, which is fueling solid performance,” noted the report. “Fall 2024 enrollment data for 111 of the Yardi 200 schools shows average growth of 2%, or 553 students, from fall 2023, nearly double the average of 1.1% growth, or 284 students, last year.”
However, rent growth is behind the last two years. In December, year-over-year growth was at 3.8% compared with 6.8% in December 2023 and 6.2% in December 2022. Yardi Matrix said it has seen rent growth for this sector trend downward since its peak at 7.6% in June 2023 and that it’s returning to a normal average. The average rent per bed increased to $909 in December, which is the highest recorded for student housing.
Steady enrollment growth has boosted rent growth in several markets, such as Auburn University, Ole Miss, and Kennesaw State University. Like the multifamily sector, some schools are struggling to absorb the new supply at high rent levels, such as the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, Boise State University, and Notre Dame. Other schools are navigating enrollment declines, such as Washington State University and University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Deliveries have been dropping for the sector, with 35,703 off-campus, dedicated student housing beds completed last year, down from 44,746 beds that came online in 2023. Yardi Matrix projected that 2025 will see 32,100 beds delivered and 33,995 beds in 2026.
Transaction activity for the Yardi 200 schools picked up in the fourth quarter, with 28 properties selling. This brought the total for 2024 to 129 dedicated student housing properties sold—50 more than in 2023. While it’s above the pre-COVID average, it is down from 2021 and 2022. The average price per bed last year increased to over $101,000, which is on par with the previous peak for pricing in 2020.
