Fall 2026 Pre-Lease Season Makes Notable Improvement in January

The U.S. student housing market logged a successful January. After starting the Fall 2026 pre-lease season at the slowest pace in over a decade, the market is quickly closing that gap.

At the end of January, 37.3% of student housing beds across the U.S. were leased for the Fall 2026 semester. From December to January, leasing increased by 1,020 basis points (bps), which was right in line with the solid increase seen in January 2025 and well ahead of the decade average for January activity in the Student Housing sector.

While the market is still catching up, momentum is building fast. In the past 10 years, January pre-leasing has averaged at 38.2%, a bit above Fall 2026’s January showing. However, the gap between the current rate and the 10-year average (90 bps) is much smaller now than it was just one month ago (300 bps).

While Fall 2026’s January pre-lease rate is ahead of Fall 2025’s January reading, however, it was still behind the January showings topping 45% seen in Fall 2023 and Fall 2024. It should be noted, however, that while Fall 2025 pre-leasing started out slowly, it did end up being the strongest season in recent history. A slow start doesn’t always equate to a weak season, as evidenced by the strong momentum that has built in the past three months.

(The core 175 universities tracked and forecasted by RealPage saw even more progress, with 39.4% leased as of January, quite a boost from the 28.9% leased in December.)

Pre-lease rates made sizable progress in January in apartments located further from campus. Those more than one mile from campus were 39.3% pre-leased in January, which was a 1,240-bps jump over the December showing. Properties closest – within a half mile of campus – were 37.1% pre-leased as of January, while communities within a half mile to one mile of campus were 36.6% pre-leased. These sectors both made progress closer to 1,000 bps during the month.

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