Fall 2026 Pre-Lease Season Sees a Second Straight Month of Improvement

December marked a second month of notable boost in pre-lease activity after the U.S. student housing market started at the slowest pace in a decade.

As of December, 27.1% of student housing beds across the U.S. were leased for the Fall 2026 semester. That was notably ahead of the November showing and a sizable boost over the October rate, which was the slowest start to a pre-lease season since Fall 2016.

While Fall 2026’s December pre-lease rate is ahead of Fall 2025’s December reading, it was still behind the December showings near 40% seen in Fall 2024 and Fall 2023. It should be noted, however, that while Fall 2025 started out slowly, it did end up being the strongest season in recent history. A slow start doesn’t always end up in a weak season, as evidenced by the strong showing in the past two months.

(The core 175 universities tracked and forecasted by RealPage saw even more sizable progress, with 28.9% leased as of December, quite a boost from the 18.4% leased in November.)

Rates were tightly clustered across distances from campus. Properties closest – within a half mile of campus – saw a big bump, taking them to 27.2% leased as of December. Those units furthest – more than one mile – from campus were 27% leased, while communities within a half mile to one mile of campus were 26.9% pre-leased as of December.

For more information on the state of the student housing industry, read previous posts on Student Housing.