Student housing asking rents reach new high, reports Yardi Matrix

Preleasing at Yardi 200 schools hit 67.7 percent in March, exceeding last year's pace by 2.4 percent, while rent growth accelerated to 6 percent, according to the latest Yardi Matrix National Student Housing Report.

As of March, the average rent reached $895 per bedroom, marking an all-time high for the sector. A total of 41 universities had double-digit rent growth, while 21 markets had negative rent movement of -1 percent or lower.

The top 22 schools for rent growth had average preleasing rates at 74 percent and above-national-average enrollment growth rates at 2.6 percent.

With data gathered from more than 1,500 properties at 187 schools, Yardi Matrix found that 46 universities had preleasing rates over 75 percent. A total of eight schools were more than 90 percent preleased, including Ole Miss (99.4 percent), Purdue (91.7 percent), Appalachi