Student housing has gotten pricier
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It's getting even more expensive to live near one of the Triangle's large universities.
Why it matters: Expensive student housing adds to the already-high cost of college.
Driving the news: Rents for student housing near N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill have grown faster since the pandemic than other market-rate apartments in the Triangle, according to data from Moody's Analytics.
- Moody's defined student housing as off-campus apartments where more than half of the tenants are college students.
By the numbers: Rents at student housing near N.C. State have spiked 30.5% since 2020, according to the report.
- Rents at student housing around UNC-Chapel Hill rose 23.3%.
- That compares to market-rate apartments in the area that saw rents grow by 22.9% between 2020 and 2025.
Between the lines: Rents at student housing around Duke, however, have grown more slowly at 13.8%.
- Duke students are required to live on campus for three years.
Zoom in: High rents in Chapel Hill have long been an issue affecting students and university workers alike.
- That is one reason why UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts has floated using university land, particularly Carolina North, as a potential area for affordable housing.
The big picture: Nationally, rent growth for market-rate apartments has outpaced that of student housing, according to Ricardo Rosas, Moody's associate data scientist.
- However, over the past five years, roughly 24% of 140 colleges and universities analyzed by Moody's saw student rents grow faster than market-rate rents.
State of play: 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.