DST.EDU Part 3: Student Housing Asset Classification

June 29, 2026

By Al DiNi­co­la, AIF®
Pri­vate Fund Advi­sor
DST 1031 Spe­cial­ist
Fidu­cia­ry Cap­i­tal Man­age­ment, LLC
Secu­ri­ties offered through MSC-BD, LLC, Mem­ber of FINRA/SIPC

Editor’s Note: This is Part Three of a Ten-Part Series on the Var­i­ous Asset Types Found in Delaware Statu­to­ry Trust (DST) Offer­ings. This is a 2026 update from a series post­ed in 2022. If you missed Part Two click here. Mul­ti­fam­i­ly Asset Clas­si­fi­ca­tion

Introduction

Stu­dent hous­ing has evolved from a niche sub­set of mul­ti­fam­i­ly real estate into a dis­tinct insti­tu­tion­al asset class. While stu­dent hous­ing com­mu­ni­ties often resem­ble tra­di­tion­al apart­ment com­plex­es, the oper­a­tional dynam­ics, leas­ing struc­tures, ten­ant demo­graph­ics, and demand dri­vers make them unique invest­ments with­in the Delaware Statu­to­ry Trust (DST) mar­ket­place.

“Stu­dent hous­ing has matured sig­nif­i­cant­ly over the past two decades,” says Al DiNi­co­la. “Today’s prop­er­ties often rival Class A mul­ti­fam­i­ly com­mu­ni­ties in terms of ameni­ties, tech­nol­o­gy, and res­i­dent expe­ri­ence.”

For many DST investors, stu­dent hous­ing offers a com­pelling com­bi­na­tion of recur­ring demand, diver­si­fied income streams, and expo­sure to some of the nation’s strongest uni­ver­si­ty mar­kets.

Why Student Housing Remains Attractive

At its core, stu­dent hous­ing serves a sim­ple need: stu­dents require a place to live while pur­su­ing high­er edu­ca­tion.

Unlike many com­mer­cial real estate sec­tors that are heav­i­ly depen­dent on eco­nom­ic cycles, stu­dent hous­ing ben­e­fits from long-term edu­ca­tion­al demand and enroll­ment trends.

“Edu­ca­tion has his­tor­i­cal­ly demon­strat­ed remark­able resilience,” notes DiNi­co­la. “Dur­ing peri­ods of eco­nom­ic uncer­tain­ty, many indi­vid­u­als return to school to devel­op new skills and improve career oppor­tu­ni­ties.”

The growth of large pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties, con­tin­ued inter­na­tion­al enroll­ment, grad­u­ate pro­grams, and research insti­tu­tions con­tin­ues to sup­port demand for well-locat­ed off-cam­pus hous­ing.

The Importance of University Selection

Not every uni­ver­si­ty mar­ket is suit­able for stu­dent hous­ing invest­ment.

Suc­cess­ful stu­dent hous­ing DSTs are often locat­ed near large uni­ver­si­ties with:

• Strong enroll­ment growth
• Nation­al recruit­ing foot­prints
• High reten­tion rates
• Sig­nif­i­cant research fund­ing
• Lim­it­ed on-cam­pus hous­ing inven­to­ry
• Strong ath­let­ic and alum­ni sup­port

His­tor­i­cal­ly, investors focused heav­i­ly on schools with­in the for­mer Pow­er Five con­fer­ences. How­ev­er, con­fer­ence realign­ment has dra­mat­i­cal­ly changed the land­scape. “Today’s investors should focus less on con­fer­ence labels and more on enroll­ment, hous­ing sup­ply, and long-term insti­tu­tion­al strength,” says DiNi­co­la.

The New Power Conference Landscape

Fol­low­ing major con­fer­ence realign­ment, the tra­di­tion­al Pow­er Five has effec­tive­ly become the Pow­er Four:

• SEC
• Big Ten
• ACC
• Big 12

Many of the nation’s largest stu­dent hous­ing mar­kets are now con­cen­trat­ed around uni­ver­si­ties in these con­fer­ences.

Exam­ples include:

• Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas, Austin flag­ship uni­ver­si­ty
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia, Athens flag­ship uni­ver­si­ty
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da, Gainesville flag­ship uni­ver­si­ty
• Ohio State, Colum­bus flag­ship uni­ver­si­ty
• Penn State Uni­ver­si­ty, Uni­ver­si­ty Park flag­ship uni­ver­si­ty
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Alaba­ma, Tuscaloosa flag­ship uni­ver­si­ty

How­ev­er, con­fer­ence affil­i­a­tion alone is no guar­an­tee of suc­cess.

“We look for enroll­ment sta­bil­i­ty, pop­u­la­tion growth, hous­ing short­ages, and insti­tu­tion­al com­mit­ment,” explains DiNi­co­la. “A uni­ver­si­ty with 40,000 stu­dents and lim­it­ed hous­ing may present a stronger oppor­tu­ni­ty than a small­er school in a major con­fer­ence.”

Understanding Student Housing Leasing Structures

One fea­ture that dis­tin­guish­es stu­dent hous­ing from con­ven­tion­al mul­ti­fam­i­ly prop­er­ties is the lease struc­ture.

Most stu­dent hous­ing prop­er­ties lease by the bed rather than by the apart­ment. A four-bed­room unit may gen­er­ate four sep­a­rate leas­es. “This cre­ates diver­si­fi­ca­tion with­in the unit itself,” says DiNi­co­la. “If one stu­dent leaves, the entire apart­ment isn’t nec­es­sar­i­ly vacant.” Par­ents fre­quent­ly act as guar­an­tors on leas­es, pro­vid­ing an addi­tion­al lay­er of finan­cial sup­port. “Many stu­dent hous­ing oper­a­tors ben­e­fit from hav­ing mul­ti­ple parental guar­an­tees behind the lease oblig­a­tions,” notes DiNi­co­la.

Student Housing in 2026

The stu­dent hous­ing sec­tor has changed dra­mat­i­cal­ly since the pan­dem­ic years.

Today’s pri­ma­ry dri­vers include:

Enrollment Recovery

Many flag­ship uni­ver­si­ties have expe­ri­enced record appli­ca­tion vol­umes. Selec­tive pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties con­tin­ue to report strong demand despite demo­graph­ic con­cerns in some regions.

International Students

Inter­na­tion­al enroll­ment has rebound­ed sig­nif­i­cant­ly and remains a major con­trib­u­tor to demand. For­eign stu­dents often pre­fer pro­fes­sion­al­ly man­aged off-cam­pus hous­ing with mod­ern ameni­ties and strong secu­ri­ty sys­tems.

Housing Shortages

Many uni­ver­si­ties have strug­gled to expand on-cam­pus hous­ing fast enough to meet demand. As a result, pri­vate stu­dent hous­ing devel­op­ers con­tin­ue to play an impor­tant role in sup­ply­ing beds near cam­pus.

NIL and Athletics

The intro­duc­tion of NIL com­pen­sa­tion has increased the vis­i­bil­i­ty and com­pet­i­tive­ness of major ath­let­ic pro­grams. Large ath­let­ic con­fer­ences con­tin­ue attract­ing stu­dents, alum­ni dona­tions, and insti­tu­tion­al invest­ment that can indi­rect­ly sup­port hous­ing demand. Con­gress is attempt­ing to address sev­er­al issues sur­round­ing the trans­fer por­tal and oth­er demands and stress on col­lege ath­let­ics.

Amenities Have Changed Dramatically

The stereo­typ­i­cal col­lege apart­ment of pre­vi­ous gen­er­a­tions bears lit­tle resem­blance to today’s stu­dent hous­ing com­mu­ni­ties.

Mod­ern stu­dent hous­ing fre­quent­ly includes:

• Pri­vate bed­room and bath­room suites
• High-speed fiber inter­net
• Ded­i­cat­ed study lounges
• Pod­cast and con­tent cre­ation rooms
• Fit­ness cen­ters
• Resort-style pools
• Pack­age man­age­ment sys­tems
• Con­trolled access tech­nol­o­gy
• Mobile app res­i­dent ser­vices
• Elec­tric vehi­cle charg­ing sta­tions

“If you toured some of today’s stu­dent hous­ing com­mu­ni­ties with­out know­ing the ten­ant base, you might assume you were vis­it­ing a lux­u­ry mul­ti­fam­i­ly prop­er­ty,” says DiNi­co­la.

Technology and Security

Tech­nol­o­gy has become a crit­i­cal com­pet­i­tive advan­tage.

Stu­dents and par­ents increas­ing­ly expect:

• Smart­phone access con­trol
• Smart locks
• Video sur­veil­lance
• Pack­age deliv­ery sys­tems
• Dig­i­tal leas­ing plat­forms
• Online main­te­nance requests

“Par­ents place tremen­dous val­ue on secu­ri­ty and con­ve­nience,” explains DiNi­co­la. “Tech­nol­o­gy invest­ments are no longer option­al amenities—they’re expect­ed.”

Key Evaluation Factors for Investors

When eval­u­at­ing stu­dent hous­ing DST offer­ings, investors should con­sid­er:

University Fundamentals

• Enroll­ment trends
• Reten­tion rates
• Grad­u­a­tion rates
• Research fund­ing
• Ath­let­ic con­fer­ence align­ment

Market Fundamentals

• Sup­ply ver­sus demand
• Occu­pan­cy lev­els
• New devel­op­ment pipeline
• Rent growth his­to­ry

Property Location

Walk­ing dis­tance to cam­pus remains high­ly desir­able.

Prop­er­ties near:

• Aca­d­e­m­ic build­ings
• Ath­let­ic facil­i­ties
• Retail cen­ters
• Trans­porta­tion cor­ri­dors

often com­mand stronger demand.

Sponsor Experience

Stu­dent hous­ing requires spe­cial­ized oper­a­tional exper­tise. “The sponsor’s expe­ri­ence man­ag­ing stu­dent hous­ing is often just as impor­tant as the real estate itself,” says DiNi­co­la.

Conclusion

Stu­dent hous­ing has firm­ly estab­lished itself as a stand­alone insti­tu­tion­al real estate asset class. Sup­port­ed by enroll­ment demand, lim­it­ed hous­ing sup­ply, parental guar­an­tees, and evolv­ing uni­ver­si­ty ecosys­tems, stu­dent hous­ing con­tin­ues to attract insti­tu­tion­al cap­i­tal and DST investors seek­ing pas­sive real estate own­er­ship.

“Well-locat­ed stu­dent hous­ing near strong uni­ver­si­ties has demon­strat­ed dura­bil­i­ty across mul­ti­ple mar­ket cycles,” con­cludes DiNi­co­la. “The key is select­ing the right mar­ket, the right spon­sor, and the right prop­er­ty.”

In the next install­ment of this series, we will exam­ine Man­u­fac­tured Hous­ing Com­mu­ni­ties and the demo­graph­ic forces shap­ing that rapid­ly grow­ing asset class.

Click here Man­u­fac­tured Hous­ing Com­mu­ni­ties

Delaware Statu­to­ry Trusts (DSTs) have become a notable part of com­mer­cial real estate invest­ing. As Al DiNi­co­la empha­sizes, a DST is a struc­ture, not an asset class, the focus should remain on the qual­i­ty of the under­ly­ing prop­er­ty and how it fits your goals.  DSTs are for accred­it­ed investors and car­ry risks, i.e. illiq­uid­i­ty, real estate mar­ket fluc­tu­a­tions, and spon­sor deci­sions. Con­sult your advis­er about suit­abil­i­ty, espe­cial­ly for §1031 exchanges. For more details, please con­tact:

• Al DiNi­co­la adnicola@fiduciarycm.com  
• Direct: 239 691 8098
• Sched­ule Appoint­ment

Advi­so­ry ser­vices are offered through Fidu­cia­ry CM, an SEC-reg­is­tered advis­er. Invest­ments involve risk and are not guar­an­teed. Always refer to offer­ing doc­u­ments for full risk dis­clo­sures. Delaware Statu­to­ry Trust (DST) invest­ments involve risks asso­ci­at­ed with com­mer­cial real estate own­er­ship and are not suit­able for all investors. These risks may include, but are not lim­it­ed to, loss of prin­ci­pal, illiq­uid­i­ty, ten­ant vacan­cy, financ­ing risk, inter­est rate fluc­tu­a­tions, prop­er­ty val­ue declines, eco­nom­ic and mar­ket con­di­tions, and risks asso­ci­at­ed with spon­sor and prop­er­ty man­age­ment deci­sions. Please refer to the applic­a­ble Prop­er­ty Pri­vate Place­ment Mem­o­ran­dum (PPM) for a com­plete dis­cus­sion of the risks and con­sid­er­a­tions spe­cif­ic to that offer­ing. For addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion regard­ing gen­er­al DST invest­ment risks, please click here. Past per­for­mance is not indica­tive of future results. Nei­ther the Reg­is­tered Rep­re­sen­ta­tive nor the Bro­ker-Deal­er can con­trol or guar­an­tee future deci­sions made by the DST spon­sor, asset man­ag­er, prop­er­ty man­ag­er, ten­ants, lenders, or oth­er third par­ties involved in the oper­a­tion of the prop­er­ty. Past per­for­mance is not indica­tive of future results. Secu­ri­ties may be offered through MSC-BD, LLC, a mem­ber of FINRA/ SIPC.