Fall 2027 Pre-Lease Season Gets Off to a Good Start

The Fall 2027 U.S. student housing pre-lease season started out just ahead of its normal pace, marking the strongest September reading in three years.

As of September, 3.8% of privately owned U.S. student housing beds were leased for Fall 2027. That is ahead of last year's pace, when 3.5% of beds were leased in the first month of the Fall 2026 pre-lease season, and well ahead of the Fall 2025 season, which sat at just 2.1% in September.

Fall 2027’s first pre-leasing month was still short of the peak volumes above the 4% mark seen in the Fall 2022, Fall 2023, and Fall 2024 leasing seasons.

(RealPage's core 175 tracked universities were also at 3.8% pre-leased for Fall 2027, in line with the U.S. figure.)

All of the early-season momentum was concentrated within a mile of campus. Properties located between a half mile and one mile from campus held a slight advantage in September, with 4.3% pre-leased for Fall 2027, while properties within a half mile of campus were 4.2% pre-leased. Communities located more than one mile from campus were 1.4% pre-leased, roughly a third of the pace of the closer-in groups. The wide gap between the two nearest categories and the farthest one indicates that early demand is concentrated in walkable locations, with leasing activity farther from campus expected to build later in the season. However, even the modest pre-leasing activity in units farthest from campus was notable compared to recent seasons.

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