Student Housing Preleasing Accelerates but Rents Continue To Soften

Preleasing of student housing remains strong for the 2026-2027 school year, but rent growth continued to slow and, in some cases, fell, according to Yardi Matrix's report covering the sector.

Preleasing reached 52.3% in January 2026 compared to 45.6% in January 2025. However, performance was uneven. While 64 schools beat last year's numbers by 10% or more, 28 were behind by the same amount. The first category included Georgia Tech, the University of Illinois, Virginia Tech and Auburn. Schools with lower preleasing included Purdue, Indiana University and the University of Tennessee, each of which recently was hit with a significant wave in supply.

Data for fall 2025 showed that in 184 of the 200 schools analyzed, enrollment rose 1.8% to 4.9 million students, compared to 2.3% growth in the fall of 2024. Kentucky, Texas State, Kennesaw State and Illinois saw the greatest gains. However, enrollment dropped in 54 schools, especially in private and tertiary state schools in the Midwest and West.

Preleasing exceeded 60% at 45 schools in January and 80% in 14. Data suggests most markets (113) are seeing preleasing perform better than in 2025, with 64 more than 10% ahead and 26 more than 20% ahead.

On the other hand, weaker results were noted at 39 schools, which were less than 30% preleased in January. Some of which had new facilities under construction and were part of a group of 65 markets where preleasing was weaker than in 2025. It included Memphis, the University of Virginia, Colorado-Boulder and California-Berkeley.

Meanwhile, rents fell 0.2% in January 2026 after growing 3.7% the prior year and 6.5% in January 2023 and 2024. Average rent per bed was $915, with far fewer schools posing stronger rent growth than last year. Indeed, over half of the schools analyzed reported that rents fell on average 4.6% year-over-year in January. Those markets that saw growth averaged rent increases of 3.7% over the year. Others, primarily smaller student housing markets but also including some big schools, successfully turned losses in the former year into gains in 2026.

The universities with the biggest improvements in rent per bed included Auburn (6.3%), Missouri (5.8%) and Florida (5.5%). Those with the biggest declines included Arkansas (9.9%), South Florida (7.1%) and Central Florida (6.5%).