Comparing the list of the top 25 owners of conventional apartment units to the top 25 owners of student housing beds reveals an interesting pattern of concentration in the share of ownership relative to the industry. With almost 21 million conventional apartment units in the U.S. today, ownership is fragmented and not necessarily concentrated in only a few companies. The range of ownership share for the top 25 apartment owners in the nation is between 0.2% and 0.5%, with a spread of only 30 basis points (bps). The owners of purpose-built student housing, however, are more concentrated, especially for the top four companies. The leading student housing owner controls more than 7% of all beds, while the #25 owner retains just 0.5%, a spread of almost 700 bps. The top four student housing owners own more than 21% of all student beds, well ahead of the 2% share among the top four conventional apartment owners.
