For years, off-campus student housing lenders and investors have been challenged by a lack of detailed industry performance data.  Since 2010, the National Student Housing Council (NSHC), an affiliate of the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC), has worked with student housing developers to collect and analyze financial data for performance benchmarking purposes.

This report is a follow up to NSHC’s October 2011 Student Housing Income and Expense Benchmarking Survey. It examines additional data submitted for the original report, giving industry stakeholders insight into how efficiently the student housing market operates.

New data points include gross potential rent, gain/loss from lease, concessions, and vacancy loss. In addition to a per bed breakdown of the information, the results also have been tabulated by property type, building age, and geographic region.

Key Takeaways:

• On average, student housing properties netted 88.1 percent of their gross potential rents on a per bed basis after concessions and vacancy losses. Properties in the Southeast had the strongest regional performance, taking in 90.8% of their gross potential rents, on average.
  
  
• Although newly constructed student housing properties, on average, spent more on concessions and had higher levels of vacancy losses, they netted 10 percent to 14 percent more dollars per bed than their older vintage counterparts.
  
  
• As the sector has grown and more professionally managed players have entered the space, revenue management strategies have increasingly shifted toward a per-bed rather than per-unit leasing model. Roughly  84.4 percent of survey respondents indicated that they leased by the bed, which corresponded to lower levels of concessions and vacancy losses, on average.

Purchase the Report

NMHC members may access the report free as part of their membership here. Other nonmember firms may purchase the report for $400. To purchase the report, click here.

Other Recent NMHC Student Housing Research

• 2011 Student Housing Income and Expense Benchmarking Survey. Expands on NMHC's 2010 Off-Campus Student Housing: Income and Expense Benchmarking Survey, providing more in-depth state and regional data for operating and line-item expenses for 341 properties. (October 2011)
  
  
• Surge in College Applications Unaffected by the Economic Downturn. Reinforcing the “recession-resistant” nature of student housing, this analysis of 56 universities shows an average growth rate of 20 percent for freshman applications for the fall of 2010 compared to fall 2008. (June 2011)
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