Key Highlights
- August preleasing reached 93% across the Yardi 200 -- 80 bps above August 2025 and 120 bps above August 2024.
- Leasing-season rent growth slowed to 1.1%, versus 2.8% in 2025-26 and 5.9% in 2024-25.
- Class A properties preleased at 93.8%; properties more than two miles from campus trailed at 88.7%.
- Yardi Matrix expects the season to finish around 94% to 94.5%.
The Signal
- Occupancy and pricing power have decoupled: operators are filling beds without raising rents to do it.
- The rent-growth path -- 5.9% to 2.8% to 1.1% in three seasons -- is a structural deceleration, not a one-season blip.
Implications
Owners modeling student housing off 2024-25's 5.9% pace are materially overstating near-term revenue; ~1% is the realistic base case. Allocators comparing housing types should price full occupancy with minimal pricing power into cap-rate assumptions.
Full beds used to mean pricing power in student housing -- this season, it just means full beds.
Related coverage
Key Takeaways
- Full beds used to mean pricing power in student housing -- this season, it just means full beds.
- Owners modeling student housing off 2024-25's 5.9% pace are materially overstating near-term revenue; ~1% is the realistic base case. Allocators comparing housing types should price full occupancy wit...
CRE Daily (citing Yardi Matrix), "Student Housing Preleasing Hits 93% as Rent Growth Slows," Sept 26, 2026, https://www.credaily.com/briefs/student-housing-preleasing-hits-93-as-rent-growth-slows/ · Multi-Housing News, "National Student Housing Report -- September 2026," https://www.multihousingnews.com/national-student-housing-report-september-2026/
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