Demand for student housing continues to grow, which resulted in an active transaction market for this sector, according to the latest research from Yardi Matrix.
In its May 2025 National Student Housing Report, Yardi Matrix said that 27 student housing properties had sold this year through the end of April, a similar number as during the same period in 2023 and 2024.
The sales price per bed came in strong at $74,207 as of the end of April. Yardi Matrix also recorded two large portfolio sales that came in at more than $100,000 per bed.
It’s not surprising that investors are interested in student housing. The demand from students for units remains high. Yardi Matrix said that preleasing for its Yardi 200 schools averaged 73.2% in April, 140 basis points higher than in the same month a year ago.
Rental rates did fall from March to April, but increased on a year-over-year basis. Yardi Matrix said that advertised monthly rental rates for its Yardi 200 schools stood at an average of $917 per bed in April. This represents rent growth of 2% on a year-over-year basis. That pace of growth is down from a year-over-year increase of 6.4% during the last two leasing seasons, Yardi Matrix said.
The enrollment growth for 189 schools in the Yardi 200 averaged 1.8% in the fall of 2024. That’s up from enrollment growth of 1.1% for the fall of 2023 and a dip of 0.6% in the fall of 2022. Yardi Matrix did report that schools are concerned that changes to immigration policy and school funding could impact enrollment growth in the coming years.
