A compiled reference of 21 verified statistics on the student housing turn: the lease calendar that concentrates nearly every move-out into late July, the roughly two-week window in which units are made ready, what the turn costs per bed, the preleasing pace that fixes the deadline, and the scale of the operators and market that live on this calendar. Every figure is drawn from a named public source (SEC filings, Multi-Housing News, Walker & Dunlop, Yardi Matrix, operator announcements) and independently checked before publishing.
Key statistics
5 highlights from this report
Key statistics
Key takeaways
Student housing runs on a single annual clock: leases end the last day of July, units are re-made in roughly two weeks, and the next residents, most of whom signed months earlier, arrive in mid-August. The compression is structural, written into the leases themselves, and it is why turn season is the one operational event the whole industry plans the year around.
About 60% of student housing units turn over at the end of July
Substantially all leases end the last day of July; units are re-made in about two weeks
Turn cost estimates run from $135-$165 per bed (basic make-ready) to $1,500-$3,000 (full turnover)
89.1% of tracked beds were already preleased in July 2026
146,300 beds of demand absorbed 100,800 new beds (1.45x) in the 2026 outlook
The turn calendar
A typical off-campus student housing year, per the lease structure described in Education Realty Trust's SEC filings
During the turn itself, operators generally recognize no lease revenue on turning beds while incurring the year's heaviest make-ready expense, which is why the third quarter is structurally the industry's hardest.
How we built this report
Every figure below was compiled in September 2026 from named public sources and verified against the original before publishing.
- Compiled from primary sources
SEC filings from a student housing REIT, trade press reporting, market research outlooks, and operator announcements.
- Only explicitly stated figures
We include only numbers a named source states directly, and attribute each inline at the point it appears.
- Disagreements shown, not averaged
Turn cost estimates differ by an order of magnitude depending on scope and era; we show each figure with its date and scope rather than blending them.
- Independent review
Written by one co-founder, reviewed by the other before publishing.
These are published figures from filings, trade reporting, and market research, not an audited survey of operators. Cost benchmarks in particular vary by scope (a basic make-ready is not a full turnover) and by era; each is dated where it appears and should be confirmed against the specific source before budgeting from it.
Turn season, by the numbers
All 21 figures, grouped by theme, each from a named public source and independently verified.
The calendar: why everything turns at once
The compression is written into the leases. Education Realty Trust, one of the first publicly traded student housing REITs, described the structure plainly in its SEC filings (sec.gov): "Substantially all of our leases commence mid-August and terminate the last day of July," with units prepared for incoming tenants "during the first two weeks of August." Trade reporting in Multi-Housing News (multihousingnews.com) put the same picture in percentages: about 60 percent of student housing units turn over at the end of July, and approximately the same amount moves in during early August.
Statistic 1
Substantially all student housing leases commence mid-August and terminate the last day of July.
Education Realty Trust SEC Form 10-Q (2006)
Statistic 2
Units are prepared for new incoming tenants during the first two weeks of August.
Education Realty Trust SEC Form 10-Q (2006)
Statistic 3
Operators generally recognize no lease revenue during the turn, while immediately recognizing significant make-ready expense.
Education Realty Trust SEC Form 10-Q (2006)
Statistic 4
About 60% of student housing units turn over at the end of July.
Multi-Housing News (2010)
Statistic 5
Approximately the same share moves in during early August, a turn window of about two weeks.
Multi-Housing News (2010)
What this means: conventional multifamily spreads its turnovers across twelve months; student housing spends eleven months collecting rent and compresses nearly its entire turnover volume, move-out inspections, damage assessment, vendor work, and move-in prep, into one two-week window where no rent is coming in.
What the turn costs
Cost benchmarks span an order of magnitude because they measure different things. The 2010 Multi-Housing News benchmark covered the basic make-ready: an industry average of about $135 to $165 per bed, with operator Campus Apartments reporting $140 to $145. A 2026 estimate from inspection software vendor Inspection Express (ipropertyexpress.com) puts full turnover costs at $1,500 to $3,000 per bed, a figure that absorbs repairs, replacements, and damage beyond the clean-and-paint scope. The same 2010 reporting explains why the vendor economy exists at all: conventional apartments can be turned by in-house maintenance staff, while student housing's compressed volume forces operators to hire outside vendors.
Statistic 6
The industry average for a basic student housing make-ready was about $135 to $165 per bed.
Multi-Housing News (2010)
Statistic 7
Operator Campus Apartments reported averaging $140 to $145 per bed on turns.
Multi-Housing News (2010)
Statistic 8
Full turnover costs in US student housing can range from $1,500 to $3,000 per bed.
Inspection Express (2026, vendor estimate)
Statistic 9
Conventional apartments are typically turned by in-house maintenance staff; student housing's volume typically requires outside vendors.
Multi-Housing News (2010)
What this means: at even the conservative make-ready benchmark, a 1,000-bed property spends six figures in two weeks; at the full-turnover estimate it spends seven. Nearly all of that work is performed by outside crews billing per unit, during the exact window when the property's own staff is least able to walk behind them. Damage recovery from departing residents, the other side of the same ledger, depends entirely on move-in documentation made a year earlier; our student housing damage charge reference compiles what universities actually bill per item.
The preleasing clock
What makes the August deadline unmovable is that the next residents signed months earlier. Yardi Matrix (yardimatrix.com) reported preleasing across its Yardi 200 universities at an estimated 89.1% in July 2026, with advertised rents averaging $930 per bed and annual rent growth of 2%. Walker & Dunlop's 2026 outlook (walkerdunlop.com) had 71.6% of beds preleased by April 2026 for the 2026-27 academic year, with 113 of 178 tracked markets ahead of the prior year's pace and Virginia Tech already at 88.2%.
Statistic 10
Preleasing across the Yardi 200 universities reached an estimated 89.1% in July 2026.
Yardi Matrix (August 2026)
Statistic 11
Advertised rents across the Yardi 200 averaged $930 per bed in July 2026, with annual rent growth of 2%.
Yardi Matrix (August 2026)
Statistic 12
71.6% of beds were preleased by April 2026 for the 2026-27 academic year, up 2% year over year.
Walker & Dunlop (2026)
Statistic 13
113 of 178 tracked markets were preleasing ahead of the prior year's pace, led by Virginia Tech at 88.2% in April.
Walker & Dunlop (2026)
Statistic 14
Average advertised rent for the 2026-27 academic year was $915 per bed in Walker & Dunlop's tracking, down 0.2% year over year.
Walker & Dunlop (2026)
What this means: by the time a resident moves out, the bed's next occupant has usually been signed for months. There is no slack in the calendar to absorb a unit that fails inspection late; every miss during the turn is discovered by the incoming resident instead.
The market that runs on this calendar
The operators executing the turn are among the largest residential managers in the country. Asset Living (assetliving.com) has held the No. 1 spot on the industry's third-party manager ranking for 15 consecutive years since 2010, reporting 95% student housing occupancy against a 91% industry average in 2025. Cardinal Group (cardinalgroup.com) surpassed 100,000 beds under management in 2025 and ranked third. Walker & Dunlop's outlook counts 4.9 million students enrolled at tracked universities in fall 2025 and $8.78 billion in 2025 transaction volume, and Yardi Matrix's construction tracking is led by Arizona State with 5,150 beds underway.
Statistic 15
Asset Living has ranked the No. 1 third-party student housing manager for 15 consecutive years, since the survey began in 2010.
Asset Living (2025)
Statistic 16
Asset Living reported 95% student housing occupancy in 2025 against a 91% industry average, with nearly 40 properties at 100%.
Asset Living (2025)
Statistic 17
Cardinal Group surpassed 100,000 student housing beds under management in 2025, ranking third among managers.
Cardinal Group (2025)
Statistic 18
Fall 2025 enrollment at tracked universities reached 4.9 million students, up 1.8% year over year.
Walker & Dunlop (2026)
Statistic 19
100,800 beds were delivered nationally against 146,300 beds of demand, a 1.45x absorption ratio.
Walker & Dunlop (2026)
Statistic 20
Student housing transaction volume reached $8.78 billion in 2025, a 48% increase over the 2023 trough.
Walker & Dunlop (2026)
Statistic 21
The largest active construction pipelines are at Arizona State (5,150 beds), Central Florida (4,338), and Purdue (4,182).
Yardi Matrix (August 2026)
What this means: a single national operator can be responsible for turning 100,000+ beds in the same two-week window, spread across hundreds of properties and thousands of vendor crews. At that scale nobody walks behind every crew; the photos and inspection records the crews themselves produce are the only account of what actually happened in each unit.
Cite this study
Academic or press use: copy a ready-made reference. RapidEye is the publisher.
Quick FAQ
How long is the student housing turn window?
Roughly two weeks. Education Realty Trust described preparing units for new tenants "during the first two weeks of August" in its SEC filings (sec.gov), and trade reporting in Multi-Housing News (multihousingnews.com) puts about 60 percent of student housing units turning over at the end of July with approximately the same amount moving in during early August.
How much does it cost to turn a student housing bed?
Estimates vary widely by scope. A 2010 Multi-Housing News benchmark put the basic make-ready at about $135 to $165 per bed, while a 2026 vendor estimate from Inspection Express (ipropertyexpress.com) puts full turnover costs, including repairs, at $1,500 to $3,000 per bed. The two figures measure different scopes and eras and should not be averaged.
What share of student housing is preleased before turn season?
Preleasing across the Yardi 200 universities reached an estimated 89.1% in July 2026, per Yardi Matrix (yardimatrix.com), and Walker & Dunlop (walkerdunlop.com) reported 71.6% of beds preleased by April 2026 for the 2026-27 academic year. Most beds are spoken for months before the previous residents move out.
Why does almost all student housing turn over in August?
Because leases are written to the academic calendar. Education Realty Trust's SEC filings state that substantially all leases commence mid-August and terminate the last day of July, which concentrates nearly the entire resident population's move-out and move-in into a roughly two-week window.
How big is the student housing market?
Walker & Dunlop's 2026 outlook counts 4.9 million students enrolled at tracked universities in fall 2025 (up 1.8% year over year), 100,800 beds delivered nationally against 146,300 beds of demand (a 1.45x absorption ratio), and $8.78 billion in 2025 transaction volume.
Data sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these named public sources, each checked against the original before publishing.
SEC EDGARStudent housing REIT quarterly filingsec.gov
Multi-Housing NewsTurn efficiency trade reportingmultihousingnews.com
Walker & DunlopStudent housing 2026 outlookwalkerdunlop.com
Yardi MatrixMonthly student housing market reportyardimatrix.com
Asset LivingManager ranking announcementassetliving.com
Cardinal GroupPortfolio milestone announcementcardinalgroup.com
Inspection ExpressTurnover management guidanceipropertyexpress.com