From The Magazine

Generational tastes may be involved, but student housing interior design isn’t about reinventing the wheel each time a new cohort comes up through the ranks. It’s about finding a way to provide that demographic with the type of housing environment that will allow them to thrive academically, socially and personally.  “Design strategies for a student housing property go beyond following a color trend, art style or material accent,” says Kelly Naylor, interior design practice leader and senior partner at BKV Group in Minneapolis. “Design is a tool that can be …

Cardinal Group was started by four friends who had a simple mission: buy student housing and operate it well. What started as a small portfolio has grown larger and larger over the years, and with it Cardinal’s management abilities. The company’s management arm, Cardinal Group Management, has become one of the country’s top 5 student housing managers. Alex O’Brien, one of Cardinal’s founding partners, serves as the company’s CEO. SHB recently spoke with him regarding trends in the industry, and particularly how technology is having an impact on student housing …

From a leasing and rental rate perspective, the outlook couldn’t be brighter in the student housing space. Yardi’s National Student Housing Report saw 96.6 percent of beds leased and an annual rent growth of 4.1 percent for the fall 2022 pre-leasing season at its ‘Yardi 200’ universities.  These numbers are, for obvious reasons, a boon for the industry at large — particularly following several abnormal years surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.  But it isn’t all sunshine and roses where higher rental rates are concerned. Raising the price to live in your …

By now, you’ve likely seen the statistics and read the headlines: an enrollment cliff is headed our way as the number of students beginning their first year of classes at higher education institutions across the country has gone down. But what you might not have heard is that this trend is largely a tale of two of campuses: the larger, public universities versus the smaller, private schools.  Top tier universities are still seeing growth — both from an enrollment perspective and on the student housing development front — while the …

Student Housing Business recently interviewed Nick Porter, CEO and Founder of Global Student Accomodation (GSA) and founder of Yugo, an international student housing management platform. Based in London, GSA owns student housing assets worldwide, including in Australia, Europe and the United States. Those interests give Porter a global view of the student housing industry. With the U.S. student housing industry enjoying very strong fundamentals, such as strong pre-leasing, rent increases and occupancy, SHB interviewed Porter to see what he is observing around the world. SHB: What’s your view on student …

The international student population is shifting, and the culprit is an obvious one: COVID. It’s a term we’re all tired of hearing, but the effects continue to play out, particularly on university campuses and in housing communities. The good news is not all of these changes are bad.  This global shakeup has provided student housing operators with more data on which countries have the most students interested in studying abroad and how these students prefer to learn (and live). The pandemic has also shed light on the policies of other …

For the November/December issue’s “Five Questions with” SHB spoke to Fred Pierce, president and CEO of San Diego-based Pierce Education Properties, to get his take on the climate for acquisitions in today’s volatile capital markets environment.   SHB:  Rising interest rates have put a major crimp on the investment sales market across all sectors of commercial real estate. In your position, from where you sit, what’s the situation in the student housing space specifically? Pierce: I’d say it’s no different than other sectors of commercial real estate. My observations are completely …