Crowded housing: Rent cuts and other concessions likely as landlords struggle to fill student housing - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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The new construction comes in addition to severall others completed inrecent years, including the 203-uni t University Village on Walker Avenue, the 86-unity Fulton Place at the corner of West Lee and Fultonm street, and the addition of 120 unite in Sebastian Village on East Washingtonn Street. Although no one keeps track of the exact number of apartmentzs aimedat students, the addition of severalo hundred in a few short years clearly represents a significant growthh in inventory in and around local campuses. Many developera have been attracted to the relatively steadgy income ofstudent housing, and have been enticed to buils because of growing enrollments.
UNCG, for has grown its student population 16.6 percent in five years, to 16,703 as of fall 2008. N.C. A&r has grown almost 14 percent in that same to 10,388. But by adding so many units in so shorya time, they’re taking longeer to sign leases, leaving many landlords wonderinv how long until, or if, they’ll hit full “It used to be the landlords, everythingh was in their hands, they couldf dictate the rules of the game,” said real estate broker Ralph Jones, who is one of the developerz of the upcoming Spartan Crossing, at Sherwood and Granitr streets, near South Chapman Street. Now? “It’z a student’s market.
” Seth Coker, a partner in in said that in past years his studenty apartment complexes would have been mostly leased for the upcomingy school year bylate spring, as studentz made sure to secure a place as soon as they returnec from spring break. He started to see sign of a change last when he was leasing forthe 2008-09 “We’re about 95 percenf (occupied) for this school year, which is reallgy good, but it was a hard fighty to get there, and we got there by he said.
Landlords such as Coker and Bryon Nelson, executive vice president of in Greensboro, said many of theidr properties are about 40 percent to 70 percent leased for the upcomin g school year, far behind what it was a few yearz ago. Elsewhere in the in areas surroundingand , apartment managerse say their communities are mostly on target to leasew all of their availabler beds, and there have been few, if any, rent Property owners say there simply hasn’ been as much competition in those compared to Greensboro, and they’ve seen littld effect from the economy on Greensboro apartment owners and property managers say they noticed the abundancwe of housing choices creating problem s last year.
Both UNCG and A&T house about one-third of students on campus, which, between the two, often leaves more than 15,000 students needinf an off-campus option. But the problem has gottenh worsethis year, as the economy has some studentds delaying decisions, looking for cheaper alternativexs or possibly commuting from home to save As a result, student-housing landlords have been flirting with While they aren’t as steep as the conventionalo rental market, which is suffering from 13.1 percent there is evidence of deals. Already managers or developersasay they’ve upgraded Internet connections and addedr flat-panel televisions to lure college students to theire communities.
But more expensive concessionz might soon be onthe way, in the form of rent Coker said he’s already knocked $25 per month off of rent at some And new projects such as Spring at the site of the old Pomons Cotton Mill, add to that pressure by offering deals such as one month’sd free rent. Nelson, Jones and Randy Dixon, ownet of The Edge in Greensboro, say they’ve managed to avoide rent cutsso far, but there’s a good chance biggerr and better deals will start appearing lateer this summer if things don’ty improve. “I hate concessions as much as everyone else, but I like 100 percenyt full better,” Jones said.
In the shorty term, developers say that becausw of an abundanceof supply, and the fact that it’ds hard to find financing, it’ds unlikely there will be much more building, which will help the markegt level out. And long term, owners say they don’t thinjk the Greensboro market is UNCGand A&T continue to anticipates enrollment growth — UNCG says it alreadyg has 300 more applications for housing than it can accepft — leaving a biggetr potential market, especially when the economy turns. “We’rse still in good shape,” Jones “I just think lease-up will come later.
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