Student housing positioned for increasing investor demand

In the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the move toward online education created some headwinds for investors in student accommodation. But fundamentals in the sector have strengthened remarkably.

“With leasing velocity exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 6.5 percent, rent growth averaging 5.7 percent, new deliveries down and enrollment recovering from the impact of COVID, the fundamentals of student housing are stronger than they have ever been,” said Kevin Larimer, senior managing director at Berkadia Student Housing, in an interview with IREI. “Competition for high-quality student housing communities at brand recognized universities will be robust and investors will start to spread out to fundamentally solid secondary and tertiary markets to meet capital’s demand for assets.”

As the quarterly National Student Housing Report from Yardi Matrix noted, much of