A late rally pushed the student housing market to its strongest performance in at least a decade after a slow start to pre-lease season, according to a RealPage analysis of the market.
At the end of August, 96.5% of student housing beds across the country were leased for the fall semester. That beats Fall 2022 when 95% of student housing beds were leased in August. The percentage this year is even higher among RealPage’s core 175 universities at 96.7% leased in August.
Pre-leasing was substantially lower than the past three years starting in November when pre-leasing for the Fall 2025 semester stood at just 16.1% of student housing beds. Only about one-quarter of beds were pre-leased by December. Pre-leasing remained below three-year averages for the first three months of the year, but demand started to accelerate. By April, pre-leasing had grown to nearly 70% and was catching up with historical norms. In May, pre-leasing jumped ahead of last year’s performance.
Due to tight pre-lease occupancy, rates were tightly clustered across distances from campus, according to RealPage’s analysis. Properties closest to campus reported the tightest pre-lease occupancy of 96.7% in August. Units within half to one mile of campus were 96.6% occupied, and 96.5% of units further from campus were pre-leased, a historically strong rate.
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