Pre-Leasing Falls Below Last Year’s Rate at Most Schools

Among the core 175 schools tracked by RealPage, nearly two-thirds saw a softer pre-lease occupancy rate in 2020 than in the previous year. Regardless of the overall level of leasing success by school, most schools have 2020 performances that trail behind what was seen in 2019. At 42% of the 175 schools, pre-leasing fell less than 10% below the year-ago rate. At another 22% of schools, pre-leasing in 2020 was more than 10% below the 2019 rate. At just 3% of schools, 2020’s pre-lease rate was unchanged from the 2019 showing. Just over a quarter of schools (27%) registered leasing that was up moderately from last year’s figure, while 6% of schools have leasing activity up 10% or more from 2019 results. In some cases, schools with leasing volumes up quite a bit year-over-year are spots where significant new supply in 2019 held back the year-ago performances.