Student Housing Pre-Lease Season Ends Below Year-Ago Record

U.S. student housing pre-leasing momentum jumped in August, wrapping up the Fall 2024 pre-lease season with a last-minute push.

As of August, roughly 92.8% of beds at the core 175 universities tracked by RealPage were leased for the Fall 2024 semester. While momentum picked up in the final month of the pre-lease season, the most recent showing was notably behind the August pre-lease rates from Fall 2023 (94.4%) and Fall 2022 (95.6%). Still, August pre-lease rates remain markedly ahead of pre-COVID norms.

Typically, momentum slows in August as the leasing season wraps up, when there are fewer beds available to lease, but the most recent showing was a significant improvement over July’s pace as well as typical August rates. A notable 4.4% of student housing beds were leased between July and August for the Fall 2024 leasing season. In comparison, the July-to-August jump in previous hears hovered below 4%.

Occupancy rates were tightly clustered across distances from campus. Properties within a half mile to one mile of campus reported the tightest pre-lease occupancy as of August at 92.9%. Properties furthest from campus were 92.8% occupied, matching the RealPage 175 average. Those within a half mile of campus saw the lowest (but still historically strong) pre-lease occupancy of 92.7% as of August.

Across the RealPage 175, annual effective rent growth softened to 3.6% in August, which was the lowest rate seen so far this pre-lease season. Properties more than one mile from campus continued to report the strongest rent growth at 5.6% as of August, followed by slightly softer readings at properties closer to campus.

As of August, 22 schools with sufficient sample within the RealPage 175 reported essentially full occupancy. Among these schools with rates of 98% or more were several southern universities including University of Kansas, University of Mississippi, Oklahoma State University, James Madison University. More specifically, the Carolinas were home to several tight occupancy schools, such as Appalachian State University, Coastal Carolina University and Western Carolina University, among others.

Six universities led for both occupancy and rent growth in August, and all but one of those was in the South region. University of Mississippi and University of Tennessee – which have been performance leaders throughout this pre-lease season – logged the nation’s strongest annual student housing rent growth performances above 20%, but strong rates above 12% were also seen in University of Kentucky, Purdue University, College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina University.

Although August marks the final month of the pre-lease season in student housing, September’s in-place occupancy reading across the core 175 universities tracked by RealPage generally registers modestly above the August reading as some last-minute beds are filled as students move back to campus.