Schooling investors on student-oriented rental condos

Student-oriented rental condos are booming. Should you consider adding one to your investment portfolio?

I’m getting more and more requests these days from my clients for student-oriented investment opportunities. The fact is that student rental condos are very hot right now.

Condo projects located near university and college campuses were among the best-selling condos in the country over the last year, and many of my investor clients took advantage of these opportunities.

4 reasons why investing in student rental condos has never been more popular:

• First of all, student housing can provide great monthly cash flow. Students are more inclined to share space and therefore, as a landlord, you can charge by the room instead of by the size or the unit type.
• Secondly, student housing gives you a very predictable and steady rental pool – especially if your property is located in close proximity to a major university campus.
• Finally, students actually make very good tenants from a rental payment standpoint because 90 per cent of the time, it’s not the student who is paying the rent - it’s mom and dad. And mom and dad are increasingly wealthy, and want to put their children in the best possible environment for success.
• Higher education is a booming industry in Canada. University enrolments are up exponentially over the last decade and they continue to grow every year. Demand for student housing is far exceeding the current supply in cities across Canada, and the current housing stock in most University areas is aging and woefully inadequate. Student rental condos are filling in this gap.

The future of student housing

The old stereotype of student housing being dilapidated old houses with six to eight students sharing four bedrooms and one shower is slowly going away, as students are more discerning and are paying more than ever for their education.

Just like anyone else, students prefer to live in beautiful spaces that are clean and modern, with great amenities and located as close as possible from where they need to be every day – their school campus.

Upon graduation, students are entering a marketplace more competitive than ever before and having just an undergraduate degree is no longer good enough to get a good job. As a result, graduate schools are seeing huge growth too, as students are staying in school longer and longer.

This is why student-oriented rental condos are so popular. They address the growing need for high-end accommodation for the discerning student looking for every advantage they can get, and this is why every condo investor should consider adding some of this product type to their portfolio.