From pickleball courts to golf simulators, what amenities do today’s students really want — and what are they willing to pay for?
“Students still want resort-style amenities, such as rooftop pools, fitness centers and co-working spaces, but affordability also is a big concern,” says Stacey Lecocke, division president of Asset Living, a leading third-party property management firm with the largest student housing portfolio, with over 111,000 beds. Developers are leaning into that trend with more efficient designs that maximize space without compromising on quality.
Tessera, a new development undergoing lease-up near the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles, is one project that features smaller private units that help to lower the rent for students, while still providing a premium living experience in its shared common area spaces. Property amenities include a rooftop pool, second floor amenity deck, dog park and fitness center, among other perks. The floor plans range from studios as small as 300 square feet up to four-bedroom units at roughly 1,200 square feet.
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Across the industry, developers are also utilizing modular construction and prefabricated elements to reduce construction timelines and cost, which also helps to make luxury more attainable at a lower price point. Other design trends include built-in storage and multi-functional furniture, which also plays into the need for efficiency in smaller footprint floor plans. In addition, developers are continuing to emphasize “smart” features and energy efficiency, such as LED lighting, solar power and electricity versus natural gas, all of which help to lower the overall cost for residents.
Today’s students want many of the same things they’ve always wanted — a very nice, high-quality place to live at an affordable price, notes Lecocke. “We try to help guide our clients to deliver on that and not put bells and whistles in a building that aren’t needed. We also don’t want to abandon things like study spaces that are important to students,” she says.
Staying in Tune with Students
Keeping a finger on the pulse of changing market trends and student preferences is a critical factor in the ability to attract and retain residents and achieve above-market occupancy and rent growth. “Our clients can have a vision for the building and the direction they want it to go in. But we help to keep them on track with what the students actually want and what they can afford,” says Lecocke.
One of the proactive tools that Asset Living uses to gather feedback and insights into market trends is surveys. The company conducts a formal student survey in the fall after move-in and another in the spring. “Those are very comprehensive, robust surveys that go to the guarantors as well so that we get feedback on not only what we could be doing differently but what we’re doing well,” says Lecocke. The surveys also include questions related to the building, its facilities and what amenities students are looking for to support their learning, quality of life and resident experience.
Asset Living also conducts monthly J Turner surveys among a random sample of both prospects and residents for each property it operates. Thirteen of its properties made the top 50 list for the 2024 J Turner TALi Awards and eight properties were named on the J Turner Top 100 List for Online Reputation Assessment (ORA) scores.
“For properties that actively engage with this feedback, we’ve seen significant improvements in both their online reputation and resident satisfaction,” says Lecocke. “This also helps us to evolve by collecting key takeaways within the student housing sector to anticipate and stay ahead of trends on the horizon related to the current and incoming student population.”
It is also important to gather feedback at the local level. The amenities and experiences that students want in Fayetteville, Ark. may not be the same as what students may want in Los Angeles or Miami. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, and that’s why doing all of the surveys by property is important. You can get the flavor and the feel and the needs and the wants by property and by market,” says Lecocke.
Asset Living also takes a proactive approach to staying in touch with local and national market trends by interacting with clients and industry peers. For example, the company is bringing more than a dozen of its team members to the InterFace Student Housing conference in April.
Reputation is Everything — Making Use of ORA Scores and Survey Data to Drive Occupancy
Culture and resident experience can be just as important as a property’s amenity package. “You can have a beautiful building and you can have all the greatest amenities, but if you’re not creating a culture and environment where residents want to live, it’s meaningless,” says Lecocke.
The resident experience at a property plays a big part in keeping students at a property together or seeing them pick up and move to follow each other somewhere else. A property’s ORA score articulates the culture of a property, and that online reputation can make or break a property’s ability to attract and retain residents.
Across its portfolio, Asset Living grew its ORA score in 2024 by 9 percent, and the latest February numbers show that the company is three points ahead of the industry average. “That highlights not only the success stories occurring but also the fact that we’re looking at our online reputation. We’re effectuating change to grow our score and separate ourselves from others in the industry,” says Lecocke.
Asset Living is harnessing the power of the information it gathers from surveys to make changes that enhance the resident experience, and those results are showing up in the company’s performance. The third-party operator ended the 2024 season with same-store occupancy that improved 2 percent to reach 97 percent, with an average of 95 percent occupancy for the overall portfolio. Additionally, the company generated 8 percent rent growth across its portfolio and outpaced its direct competitive set by 18 percent.
“We are a very data-driven company — we crave feedback and the opportunity to learn from it,” adds Lecocke.
— By Beth Mattson-Teig. This article was written in conjunction with Asset Living, a content partner of Student Housing Business.
To learn more about Asset Living, click here.
For more information on becoming a Student Housing Business content partner, contact Rich Kelley, publisher, or Tim Tolton, media advisor.