Investors

The opportunities in investing in student housing can be rewarding from the viewpoint of a professional real estate investor to buying a condominium for your child to sell after they graduate from UF.

Not every University in the nation creates such a niche market. There are several different factors that need to be present to do so and the University of Florida in Gainesville has them all.

The first feature of a University that creates this niche market is the Bed-to-Student ratio. The University’s on-campus student housing, Bed-to-Student Ratio, needs to be low to show that there is a need for housing in the area. At College Campus' nationwide, the average is that almost 65 percent of college students rely on off-campus housing.

The following is the University of Florida’s bed-to-student ratio.

• University of Florida Beds………………..…....   7,352
• University of Florida Enrollment (2007)…….... 51,725
• University of Florida’s Bed-to-Student ratio…..     14%

This means that 86% of UF’s students live off-campus! This percentage of students that rely on off-campus housing creates one of the lowest Bed-to-Student ratios in the natio. This entail creates a niche real estate market because of it's unique strong demand for student housing.

This bed-to-student ratio will also continue to get smaller in upcoming years for two reasons.

• No future plans for on-campus housing. UF continues to see an increase in financial pressure due to state budget deficits. With the decreasing amount of money budgeted to UF, the university is spending it on classrooms & educational products; not beds.
• An increasing enrollment. Over the last seven years, the University of Florida has been actively increasing its enrollment an average of 2% a year with a total increase of 14% since 2000.

Another reason the bed-to-student ratio will continue to get smaller and the student enrollment will continue to rise is because the Echo-Boomers are heading to college. There are 80 million Echo-Boomers turning 18 over the next decade. The Echo Boomers are the children of the Baby Boomers and they make up a population as numerous as that of their parents. Not only is the population of potential student housing increasing in size, but also the choice to pursue a college degree is increasing in popularity.

A large number of these students are choosing to go to school in states like Florida because of the climate that’s offered and the increasing number of young adults going to college is being welcomed by the University of Florida

College towns insulated from current real estate market conditions

Another reason why investing in the niche market of student housing in the current state of the real estate market is because the housing demand in college towns, like Gainesville, is insulated by the University of Florida and Shands. It doesn’t fluctuate with the job market, local industries, or nearly anything else. It is fed by the consistent turn over of students every semester and enrollment is only rising.