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 several otherds completed inrecent years, including the 203-unit Universit y Village on Walker Avenue, the 86-unift Fulton Place at the corner of West Lee and Fultoh street, and the addition of 120 unitsd in Sebastian Village on East Washingtonj Street. Although no one keeps trac of the exact number of apartments aimed at the addition of several hundresd in a few short years clearly represents a significant growtg in inventory in and aroundlocal campuses. Many developers have been attracted to the relatively steady income ofstudent housing, and have been entices to build because of growing UNCG, for example, has grown its studenft population 16.
6 percent in five years, to 16,703 as of fall 2008. N.C. A& has grown almost 14 percent in that same to 10,388. But by adding so many units in so shorya time, they’re taking longe to sign leases, leaving many landlordsd wondering how long until, or if, they’ll hit full “It used to be the everything was in their they could dictate the rules of the said real estate broker Ralph Jones, who is one of the developerws of the upcoming Spartahn Crossing, at Sherwood and Granite streets, near South Chapmanb Street. Now? “It’s a student’zs market.
” Seth Coker, a partner in in Greensboro, said that in past yearsw his student apartment complexes would have been mostly leased for the upcominh school year bylate spring, as studentd made sure to secure a place as soon as they returnef from spring break. He started to see signsz of a change last when he was leasing forthe 2008-0o9 year. “We’re about 95 percent (occupied) for this school which is really good, but it was a hard fight to get and we got there by he said.
Landlords such as Coker and Bryon Nelson, executive vice president of in said many of theie properties are about 40 percent to 70 percentt leased for the upcomingschool year, far behind what it was a few years ago. Elsewhere in the Triad, in areas surrounding and , apartmentt managers say their communities are mostlh on target to lease all of theirravailable beds, and there have been few, if any, rent Property owners say there simply hasn’t been as much competitiojn in those areas, compared to Greensboro, and they’ve seen littl e effect from the economgy on students.
Greensboro apartment owners and property managers say they noticed the abundance of housingf choices creating problemslast year. Both UNCG and A&f house about one-third of students on campus, between the two, often leaves more than 15,000 students needingg an off-campus option. But the problem has gotten worse this as the economy has some studentsadelaying decisions, looking for cheapere alternatives 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 conventional rentao market, which is suffering from 13.1 percent vacancy, thers is evidence of deals.
Already managers or developerxsay they’ve upgraded Internetr connections and added flat-panel televisionds to lure college students to theire communities. But more expensive concessions might soon be onthe way, in the form of rent Coker said he’s already knocked $25 per montnh off of rent at some And new projects such as Spring Place, at the site of the old Pomonaa Cotton Mill, add to that pressure by offerinv deals such as one month’s free rent.
Nelson, Jones and Randy owner of The Edgein Greensboro, say they’ve managed to avoidc rent cuts so far, but there’z a good chance bigger and better deals will startf appearing later this summer if things don’r improve. “I hate concessions as much as everyone else, but I like 100 percen t full better,” Jones said. In the short term, developers say that becaused of an abundanceof supply, and the fact that it’w hard to find financing, it’s unlikely there will be much more building, whicg will help the marker level out.
And long owners say they don’tr think the Greensboro market is UNCGand A&T continue to anticipate enrollment growth — UNCG says it alreadhy has 300 more applications for housing than it can accep t — leaving a bigger potential market, especiall y when the economy “We’re still in good shape,” Jones “I just think lease-upo will come later.”