University Market Brokers Best Kept Secret, Off Campus Student Housing

Each year, billions of national and international capital pour into local university markets across the United States. Private off-campus student housing investments small and large are attracting savvy, well-capitalized investors as the demand for student housing and enrollments, continue to climb, year after year.

Due to the influx of capital and stabilization of the student housing submarket, local and regional brokers are capitalizing on the opportunity.

It's not just national capital investors, new players are entering the market as Student Housing becomes one of the most sought after real estate investments in the market today. Even Steph Curry sees the value, recently invested in his first Student Housing deal in Springfield, Missouri.

If you are a broker near a local university market, or looking to through expanding your teams expertise and commission revenue, off campus Student Housing can be a great way to get in the game and add a powerful addition to your real estate brokerage's arsenal.

By understanding how the student housing business works, and understanding the local college market, you can uniquely position yourself in front of this wave of capital and expand your business into a very profitable real estate investment niche.

My freshman year at the University of North Carolina Wilmington was one of the best experiences of my life.

This was where I lived. Galloway Hall.

I shared a 4 bathroom stalls and 4 showers with 35 guys that lived on my floor.  Two of the stalls were broken. One of the shower head was more like a drip you had to stand under for a few minutes to get all the shampoo out.

We had 700+ college students crammed into a 6 story, 200 square ft. shared rooms.

It's college.  Eating Ramen and cramming into rooms, doing laundry together - it just came with the territory of being a college student.

"It's just supposed to be this way", we would say.

But today, everything has changed.  

Private competition in the off campus student housing submarket has sparked a major paradigm shift for student living at universities. With rising enrollment across the board and a shortage of student housing supply in local university markets - demand has risen in a big way for student living.

Competition in the submarket has sparked new concepts, ideas and amenities in order to get students leasing.

Now college students have many more options.  A far cry from what I thought about when I thought about university living.  Off campus student living that have sprung up over the past few years is nothing short of amazing.

For example:

Rooftop Pools

Entertainment and Game Rooms

Commons Areas Including a Lazy River

Lounge Areas and Event Spaces

Movie Theatre Rooms

Now because of this growing student housing niche, students can opt out of living in older, crammed style dorms, into a different lifestyle of comfort and options.

Many students are now living off campus in style. Student housing apartments are increasingly looking more and more like apartment complexes for well-off, young professionals.

Large Step-In Pools With Resort Style Waterfalls

State-of-the-Art Construction and Aesthetic Appeal

Not to mention, the cost effectiveness for students.

Student now have another option that is comparable in price. They can choose to live in older dorms on campus, or live in apartments right off campus properties that are built by developer to essentially cater to their every need.

This transformational shift and 'submarket boom' silently created an extremely lucrative multi-family submarket for real estate investors. This new opportunity spanned not only into the big cities and largest universities, but properties in college markets, large and small, across the United States.

...And this booming sub-market, although somewhat mature, is just scratching the surface.

The National Center for Education Statistics predicts college enrollment in the U.S. will reach 19.8 million students by 2025, an increase of 14 percent from its 2014 enrollment of 17.3 million.

These students will always need somewhere to live.

Off campus student housing is now a commonly known, recession resistant, very high value, and stabilized asset class of real estate.  Not to mention, one of the most recession proof real estate asset classes - during the downturn in '09 enrollments actually went up.

The Student Housing leasing model charges tenants per bed, so 
average revenue per door is generally greater than conventional 
multi-family properties.  In turn, the real estate per sq ft 
is consitently more valuable, resulting in higher offers and
transaction sizes.  

...and there is no sign of it slowing down.

• There are over 900+ Universities in the US: There is no shortage of land around universities
• More investors and qualified capital are constantly entering the market: Because of the rental model, many real estate investors are entering the niche backed by large capital groups.
• Enrollment is rising: 14% increase in enrollment this decade.  Strong, steady growth.

Why does this matter to local brokers?

Local brokers now have unique knowledge of the local market that is highly sought after and therefore, valuable. In general, many national student housing investors do not hold the insight, local knowledge or relationships.

They have the capital and the ability to invest - but are in dire need someone to inform, guide and help them invest in the local college market - and are willing to pay for it.

Many times, brokers are already be intimately familiar with the market and not only have the relationships, but understand how to push a deal to the finish line.

This familiarity and local knowledge is essential and offers extremely high value to national investors - which leads to investment capital being deployed.

This means brokers receive sizable commission fees for local brokers and teams. Because of the optimal land use, transaction sizes and $/ft offers can be significant. We've seen deal sizes range from 1mm upwards of 300mm on some student housing portfolio projects.

As this niche submarket continues to grow there is consistent, and significant investment capital being purposefully deployed into Student Housing Sites - the local brokers with the knowledge and relationships of the University vicinity will stand to profit through commissions.

There will continue to be deployed capital in university markets, and some brokers are now recognizing and capitalizing on the opportunities.

If you live, work or have knowledge of a university area, you are positioned to have unique earning potential for your business and brokerage.

• Are you a local, regional or national broker near any university areas? You already posess knowledge of the local market that holds value to well capitalized national multi-family investors.
• Would you like to connect directly to a new network of capital investment groups? If you are intimately familiar with a university market, your knowledge and unique (local) information will attract capital that you can guide into your business.
• Would you like to expand your brokerage into new, profitable avenues?  By adding Student Housing to your arsenal, you position your brokerage to not only capitalize on the local deals that will inevitably happen, but you can earn significant commission on high value property.
• Do you have a team who has knowledge of the University or multiple Universities? They may offer knowledge that can get you paid.
• Do you know any real estate or property owners near a university that may have interested in selling or leasing for top dollar?  Through Student Housing Sites, you gain exposure to the largest capital investors in the space, developers and buyers that may be interested in purchasing immediately for the right property.

Would you like to get started brokering in the Student Housing Business?

StudentHousingSites.com is the marketplace connecting multi-family student housing investors to local brokers in University Markets across the US. Signup to add listings near campus and uniquely position yourself to some of the largest (known and unknown) MF investors in the Student Housing business.