Conference Coverage

Austin, Texas — It’s no secret that finding and entitling sites and procuring development financing has been challenging over the past few years. But Kevin Kazlow, director of capital markets with JLL, who moderated one of the development panels at this year’s InterFace Student Housing conference in Austin, Texas, believes there is lots to be excited about for the year ahead. Chief among them is the fact that the amount of capital allocated to alternative asset classes like student housing has doubled since 2018.   “When you look at the correlation …

Austin, Texas — Two of the many topics discussed at this year’s InterFace Student Housing conference in Austin, Texas, were pre-leasing velocity and rental rate growth ahead of the 2025-2026 academic year. So far, numbers in both categories are trending down after two years of double-digit rent growth and record-breaking pre-leasing velocity, leading many to wonder what the new industry standard will be.  But while rental rate growth is down and leasing is paced slower than in 2024, the industry is really seeing more of a return to historic norms prior …

Austin, Texas — The ‘State of the Industry’ panel at the 17th annual InterFace Student Housing conference held more of a trepidatious tone than heard in recent years. While pre-leasing levels and rental rates are still above historical norms, the industry is seeing a slight deceleration in pre-leasing speed and rate growth, leading some to question what the industry has in store for the year ahead. The discussion — held on April 10 in Austin, Texas — was moderated by Alex O’Brien, CEO with Cardinal Group.  The best way to characterize the …

Austin, Texas — After a slower year in 2023 from a transactional standpoint, things are finally starting to look up, according to speakers at this year’s ‘State of the Industry’ panel during the recent InterFace Student Housing conference in Austin, Texas.  ‘Murky’ was utilized to describe the current state of the market, following a year of uncertainty with regard to cap and interest rates, but the sector’s strong fundamentals and growing interest from investors are reason to remain optimistic.  “We’re facing more challenges now than many of us have experienced in …

Austin, Texas — Data, information, statistics and analysis are the backbone of everything that we do in student housing, began moderator Andrew Layton, chief acquisition officer with Student Quarters, as he kicked off the first panel of this year’s InterFace Student Housing conference in Austin, Texas.  During this panel, the discussion ranged from hard numbers on pre-leasing and rental rates, to transaction actity, property valuations in the current environment and new beds under development. Pre-leasing and rental rates As of Monday, April 22, pre-leasing for the 2024-2025 academic year was at …

Austin, Texas — Thursday evening, April 25, Student Housing Business presented 28 prestigious Innovator Awards to student housing owners, developers, operators, architecture firms and universities for excellence in student housing development, marketing and operations. More than 130 industry experts judged on more than 120 entries in this year’s contest. The Innovator Awards were presented during the InterFace Student Housing conference at the JW Marriott in Austin, Texas. Look out for more details on the winning projects in the May/June issue of Student Housing Business magazine. Winners are listed by category, project and winning …