Student Housing Rent Performance Varies Widely by School

Rent growth across the 175 core universities tracked by RealPage varied widely for the Fall 2020 semester. Roughly 34% of schools managed effective asking rent growth of 3% or better for Fall 2020, with this rate well exceeding the U.S. norm of 1.4%. However, in an almost perfect counterbalance, 32% of schools registered rent cuts. Only 6% of schools are right in the middle range, posting a year-over-year price change of 1% to 2% – right in line with the U.S. average. About 13% and 15% of schools saw rent growth somewhere in between, with 0% to 1% growth and 2% to 3% growth, respectively. Such a stark difference between the highs and lows is certainly compelling. And it highlights just how critical it is to analyze performance school by school when digging into student housing performance trends.