Berkadia is proud to present our 2023 U.S. Student Housing Preleasing Report for the 2023/2024 academic year.

This year’s report, as every year, highlights significant historical trends—up to the present academic year—encompassing prelease data by month, region and distance from campus, as well as the top 10 universities based on enrollment, including current prelease percentage rates, average effective rent per bed, and year-over-year changes.

The main takeaway from this data is that student housing operating fundamentals are amongst the strongest of any commercial real estate sector. The Fall 2023 lease-up cycle was the fastest on record while also achieving the highest year-over-year rent growth the industry has ever experienced. With new asset deliveries still below pre-COVID-19-pandemic levels and Tier I universities enjoying robust enrollment growth, operating fundamentals will only continue to strengthen. At a time when the investment community is focused on low-risk-profile assets, student housing continues to offer investors some of the best risk-adjusted returns of any asset class.

This year’s report provides ample support as to why investors should continue to consider student housing as a key component of their investment strategy.