American Off-Campus Housing vs Canadian Off-Campus Housing

Is Canada's student housing market dragging it's feet behind it's US counterpart?  A recent examination of the two country's in comparison of student housing indicates a solid "Yes." Enrollment rates are increasing in Canada, but student housing isn’t advancing in conjunction with these rates.
​
In 2011, only 16 percent of undergraduate students in Canada lived in on-campus housing. 7 years later that number is right around the same spot. One answer may simply be that American landlords are putting more work into their off-campus housing facilities and making them appealing to a wide range of students.  The average household expenditure on home renovations increased 57% in the last 12 months, according to HomeAdvisor. A large portion of that coming from the student housing communities in the form of renovations and expansions of various off-campus housing companies.

The CFAA Rental Housing Business Magazine stated that the United States has 10 times the number of student housing units on a per capita basis than Canada.

This report serves to inform the Canadian rental housing industry on the most current and pertinent information fueling this profitable and rewarding segment of the multi-unit rental housing industry.

Back in 2012, Henry Morton, president of Campus Suites, a Canadian off-campus housing company, called for more transparency and information flow within the student housing sector of Canada. Morton contended that in order for Canada to meet the United States in student housing numbers, there needs to be a greater deal of information made available to developers and investors.  Many feel this was a lukewarm response and that budget problems in Canada are the real culprit.

Another contributing factor as to why the Canadian student-housing sector isn’t on par with America’s is due to the number of students and schools. While there are more than 800,000 students attending colleges and universities across Canada, they are spread quite thinly across the country.

There are 98 recognized universities in Canada and over. 800,000 current students. In 2012-2013 alone, there were 819,644 new undergraduate students in the United States which exceeds the cumulative total of all post-secondary students in Canada. Without a doubt, enrollment rates and the number of students point to a much larger pool of student tenants within the US.

This all points to the fact that Canada is somewhat behind their America counterparts in terms of the third party funded student housing sector, and a great deal of potential for further development exists. Public student housing is quite lacking currently. Over the next decade it is incredibly unlikely that Canada will ever meet the American student housing market on the same level.