Student Housing Pre-Leasing Hits Early High for Fall 2024

Another month’s worth of early data for the Fall 2024 pre-lease season shows that a record number of students are rapidly leasing beds. As of November, 28.8% of beds at the core 175 universities tracked by RealPage have been claimed for the Fall 2024 academic year.

Not only is that an all-time high for a November reading in the RealPage data set, but it is also the highest October-to-November jump on record. From October to November, a whopping 17% of student housing beds were leased across the core 175 universities tracked by RealPage, slightly outpacing last year's October-to-November jump of 16.9%. A typical October-to-November jump accounted for about 10% to 14% of student housing beds leased. Removing the last two years of record demand, a previous November pre-lease reading stood closer to 20%, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics.

A couple of schools – including several of Fall 2023’s top performers – have already pre-leased over two-thirds of their student housing beds as of November. Tennessee, Purdue, Clemson, Arkansas and Wisconsin – Madison have all pre-leased about two-thirds of the privately owned student housing stock as of November.

Rent growth, meanwhile, was still growing at a fast pace as of November but showed some signs of moderating from last year’s all-time high. Rent growth readings early in the pre-lease season can still be choppy and heavily dependent on property. RealPage data showed that same-store effective asking rents grew 7% in the year-ending November 2023, compared to 8.7% in November 2022. Rent growth was strongest in properties more than one mile from campus, though that trend can (and likely will) reverse in coming months. Still, rent growth readings have already come down across all distances from October’s record rates.

For more information on the Fall 2024 pre-lease season, including forecasts, register for our Market Intelligence: Q4 Student Housing & College Towns Update webcast on December 19.