Investors of All Sizes are Gravitating to New Student Housing

As the year winds down, student housing continues its investor feeding frenzy, says Fred Pierce, president and CEO of Pierce Education Properties. In fact, institutional investors are not crowding out mid-size and smaller investors, allowing room for numerous investors of all sizes, he says.

“There is still ample room for small, mid-sized and large institutional investors in student housing,” Pierce points out. “Large institutional investors are gravitating toward new development and recently completed properties valued at $50 million and up. Properties built generally between 2000 and 2015 are likely selling between $15 and $50 million, and are targets for small and mid-sized buyers.”

The delivery in recent years of high-end developments of mid- to high-rise construction has opened up the sector to larger institutional investors, many of which were not in the space due to lack of scale, Pierce says.