Growth in US Student Housing Starting to Decline

Uncommon Madison at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Students now prefer a central location and this community is an 11-minute walk to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Library.

CHICAGO—CA Student Living, the student housing investment and development division of Chicago-based CA Ventures, just completed eight luxury student housing communities comprising nearly 4,000 beds across the US. Students have already occupied 95% of these beds, which represent nearly 10% of the 47,700 off-campus student housing beds slated for delivery nationwide in 2016. Although that total may sound like a big number, company officials tell GlobeSt.com that a gap has opened up between the intense demand for new student housing, and what developers have recently finished.

“In general, enrollment at most schools is increasing, but the supply is not keeping up,” says JJ Smith, chief operating officer, CA Ventures. In 2014, the student housing market hit a peak when developers delivered about 65,000 new units, according to data from Axiometrics, Inc. And next fall, Smith predicts builders will deliver slightly more than 40,000 units.