AXIOStudent Delivers a Gold Mine of Data for Student Housing Operators

A business that until recently has been driven by limited information and gut feel is rapidly giving way to deep, hard data. The extensive data AXIOStudent is now pumping out about student housing in markets nationwide is being pounced on by owners, investors, developers, lenders, operators and vendors in the student space, which has become a burgeoning asset class due at least partly to this new transparency. AXIOStudent replaces time-consuming data gathering and guesswork with a goldmine of eye-opening data and projections for profitable decision making. How student is different There’s been no lack of research and analysis available to rental property investors in recent years. The trouble is, student housing is in many ways a different animal from the rest of the market. Among the obvious differences: renters come from a very distinct slice of the local population. They move in and out according to regular (academic) schedules. They often rent beds, not units. Their populations are associated with specific local institutions (universities). And so on. A couple of companies offering research on conventional properties have moved into the student space, but their products retain a data collection structure appropriate for conventional properties; they simply have a student veneer applied. Their research is drawn from far fewer universities than AXIOStudent, and their historical data (important for trend analysis) is very limited. The reason AXIOStudent is getting so much attention is that it was built from the ground up for the student space. An entire research staff spends 100% of their time collecting information specific to this sector – from market data, student properties themselves and over 350 universities (far more than anyone else). Even conventional properties that compete for students are included in the mix, with units converted to beds. The property data extends from market-wide down to the floor plan level. It can include amenities...