Student housing affordability
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Student rents grew a little faster, on average, than market-rate rents in Austin over the past five years, according to Moody's data shared with Axios.
Why it matters: Expensive student housing adds to the already-high cost of college.
- A pre-pandemic analysis performed for the city of Austin found that about 10% of rental units in Austin were occupied by students.
By the numbers: Average student rents — or off-campus apartments where more than half of tenants are college students — grew by 23.1% from 2020 to 2025 in greater Austin, while average market-rate rents grew 21.8%.
- The analysis included student rent growth for UT and Texas State students.
The big picture: Nationally, rent growth for market-rate apartments has been outpacing that of student housing, says Ricardo Rosas, Moody's associate data scientist.
- However, over the past five years, roughly 24% of 140 colleges and universities analyzed saw student rents grow faster than market-rate rents.
Between the lines: When rents rise in a metro area, student housing tends to follow suit, research suggests.
- Strong demand to live near campus instead of elsewhere in the metro can also keep student rents high.
- So can luxury apartments (think: saunas, yoga studios and infinity pools), which have moved into many student housing markets.
The bottom line: "While multifamily rents continue to command higher rates, the rapid growth in student housing rents is creating a mounting affordability crisis for students," according to a recent Moody's analysis.
- The financial strain could limit access to higher education, especially for lower-income students.