Commercial Investment Real Estate March/April 2016 | Page 26

Student Housing Stats
Sales by Total $ (mil)
Rolling 12-mo. Total
Quarterly Vol.
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Q1 '12
Q1 '13
Average Cap Rate (Yield)
Q1 '14
Q1 '15
United States Student Housing APT
12%
11%
10%
9%
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
Q1 '12
Average Price ($) per Unit
United States Student Housing APT
180,000
160,000
140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
Q1 '12
Q1 '13
Q1 '14
North America APT
Q1 '15
Changes in Sales (Year Over Year)
North America APT
300%
250%
200%
150%
100%
50%
0%
-50%
Q1 '13
Q1 '14
Q1 '15
-100%
Q1 '12
Q1 '13
Q1 '14
Q1 '15
Source: Real Capital Analytics
ville, Ark., the University of Arkansas’s
“Campaign for the 21st Century” further
accelerated the student population explo-
sion from 10,000 to 27,000, prompting an
urgent demand for student housing.
Local Fortune 500 companies, such as
Walmart and Tyson Chicken, jumpstarted
the campaign to improve the quality of life to
attract and retain employees in Fayetteville.
T e $1 billion raised “changed the landscape
in Fayetteville across the board,” says Clin-
ton Bennett, CCIM, vice president at CBRE
Brokerage in Fayetteville. “T e success of the
University [of Arkansas] has resulted in a tre-
mendous amount of student housing devel-
opment in areas that are in close proximity
to its campus. Now we are beginning to see
a signif cant increase in the ef orts of retail
developers in those same areas.”
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March | April | 2016
Bennett reports more than 2,000 student-
specif c multifamily units have been built
in the last four years and an additional
1,000 units are on the drawing board or
under construction. While the University
of Arkansas has not been an active player
in the leasing or investment markets, the
campus footprint has spread, creating more
land scarcity close to campus and leading to
higher property costs.
“Due to the growth of students and their
housing needs, the recession hardly af ected
northwest Arkansas and our business stayed
strong, with a large number of transactions,”
Bennett says.
Another thriving campus is University
of North Carolina in Charlotte, N.C., where
prices have accelerated rapidly since 2013
and multifamily high-rises are booming,
according to Karen Mankowski, CCIM. She
sold prime land close to UNC for student
housing in 2013.
T e city’s light rail train extension to the
university’s campus expected by fourth
quarter 2017 has spurred a land and building
frenzy. Developers and investors are vying
rigorously for new development and reno-
vation of properties, including mixed-use
luxury student housing and retail, close to
the light rail extension.
“College students here have preferences
similar to millennials, such as gravitating
toward urban centers, preferring amenity-
rich rentals, and ditching cars in favor of
walking, biking, and public transporta-
tion,” says Mankowski, associate direc-
tor at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank in
Charlotte.
Commercial Investment Real Estate