There's no shortage of students in need of housing near university campuses. This year, demand for rentals was so great that by March pre-leasing activity had reached its highest ever total for this time of year. Annual effective rent growth for student apartments also "easily overshadowed" others in recent history.

But on a monthly basis, the picture was a little different. The 7.6% uptick from February to March in pre-leasing was below the average of 9% for this time of year and rent growth was more moderate, according to RealPage, a technology platform that provides data insights on rental spaces.

As of March, 65.7% of beds at the core 175 universities tracked by RealPage had been leased for the fall school year. Properties within a half-mile of campus fared best with a 67.7% pre-lease rate. The rate for beds more than a mile away was 64.1% and for those in between 60.5%.