Tier 1 Student Housing May Do OK During Recession, But Smaller Markets Could Miss Out

​”Texla Housing Partners and Harrison Street, which both focus on such markets, are each seeing rent collections of over 90%, according to the companies.

“Everyone I’m talking to is pencils-down, on pause, and just waiting,” Texla Housing Partners principal and CEO Roger Phillips said. “There’s just no way to really forecast.”

Both Texla and Landmark saw over half of residents stay in their housing even after universities shut down their campuses, a behavior Phillips said probably shows Tier 1 market students’ eagerness to return to campus. Based on that, he guesses that even if classes stayed online through the fall, Texla could still see enough occupancy to make debt service on properties.”