Fall 2026 Pre-Leasing Season Enjoys a Notable Boost in March

Student housing beds across the U.S. had been pre-leasing at a below-average pace for the Fall 2026 season, but that changed in March.

A total of 58.3% of student housing beds were pre-leased for the Fall 2026 school year as of March. For the first time this season, that was above the market’s decade average for the month (57.9%).

Six months into the Fall 2026 pre-lease season, the U.S. student housing market is almost 60% full. From February to March, leasing increased by 1,070 basis points (bps), which was right in line with the solid increase seen in March 2025 and was notably ahead of the decade average for March activity in the Student Housing sector.

After starting the Fall 2026 pre-lease season at the slowest pace in over a decade, the market is quickly closing that gap, and momentum continues to build.

While Fall 2026’s March pre-lease rate is ahead of Fall 2025’s March reading, however, it was still behind the March showings topping 63% seen in Fall 2023 and Fall 2024 pre-leasing seasons. 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. Fall 2026 does seem to be following that model as well.

(The core 175 universities tracked and forecasted by RealPage saw even more progress, with 59.5% pre-leased as of March. That was quite a boost from the 49.4% leased in February.)

Apartments located closest to campus saw the biggest bump in pre-lease rates in March. Those within a half mile of campus were 58.7% leased as of March, after climbing 1,140 bps for the month. Properties located more than a mile from campus were 58.6% leased in March while communities within a half mile to one mile of campus were 56.6% pre-leased. Both of these sectors made progress topping 900 bps during the month.

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