american campus communities expected to spearhead additional student housing growth, says report

The largest student housing development company in the nation is expected to see a double-digit increase in its properties in the next several years.
That prospect, according to a new report issued by the New York-based Argus Research, is largely fueled by estimates that the country’s college enrollment will increase by at least 15 percent between now and 2021.
Based in Austin, American Campus Communities already has just under 170 student housing properties up and running, comprising more than 109,000 beds.
The Argus Research report, American Campus: At the Head of the Class, predicts that the company will see work completed on some seven new projects in the next two years with a price tag value of $877 million.
One of the reasons for American Campus’ dominant position in the market has been its aggressive study of student housing market needs in individual college towns.
Its housing, according to the Argus Research study, is “considered more modern and comfortable than older college dormitories and privately-owned apartments.”
Amenities at typical American Campus projects, continues the report, include “gyms and spacious rooms.”
The company has additionally enhanced its reputation for forward-thinking with the announcement that it will build dormitories housing up to 6,200 new beds for interns at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
That $615 million project is expected to be built in phases between 2020 and 2023.
Although the horizon currently appears cloudless for American Campus, the Argus Research report cautions that “declines in student enrollment, or the construction of competing off-campus developments, could hurt the company’s occupancy rates.”
A new report on the financial site Motley Fool points out that while American Campus’ current 109,000-bed total seems like a lot, “It’s important to realize that this covers about 0.6 percent of the American college student population.”
While this means that any of American Campus’ competitors can be expected to take on more and larger student housing projects in the near future, the company itself, says Motley Fool, may end up “multiplying its market share several times over in the next decade or two.”

By Garry Boulard

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