Overview: Cities that are home to colleges and universities face unique of supply and demand in many industries such as housing, entertainment, and food services.  We have worked with developers and financial institutions throughout the state to appraise multi-phase developments of apartment buildings catering specifically to undergrad and graduate students, faculty, and the increased housing demands that surround major universities.

Property Description: One such housing development consists of eleven, three-story apartment buildings with a total of 168-units (432-beds) and a clubhouse, all constructed of wood frame and masonry.  Originally, the development plan called for a total of 120, two-bedroom units and 60, three-bedroom units throughout the entire complex (Phase I, II, & III).  However, as demand for three-bedroom units in this market were higher than expected, two of the three-bedroom buildings were added to replace a single two-bedroom building in the southwest portion of the site.   The complex will now have a total of 72, two-bedroom units and 96, three-bedroom units.

Unique strategy: We were sure to highlight the demands of a university city in our appraisal report, as that plays a specific role in locating sales comparables and when looking at factors such as vacancy and demand.  The excerpt below demonstrates our the application of our research and knowledge for such a specific market:

"The University [sic] campus is a large part of the growth and development throughout the [sic] area.  It is important to note that the subject property is an ‘off campus’ student housing complex, whose target tenants are students from the University of [sic].  There are only eight other complexes in the area that offer student housing on an all inclusive, per bed basis.  We have only included six in our analysis as one of the buildings has recently converted to condominiums and the other is much older and far inferior to the subject and the remaining rentals.  The student housing market in [sic] has a steady to strong demand due to the size of the University of [sic], which has a student body totaling approximately 40,000-students.  There is not enough on-campus housing to accommodate all of the students.  Therefore, after a mandatory first year of living in university housing, most students are forced to live off-campus.  We have focused only on student housing complexes similar to the proposed subject complex due to the fact that these types of residences are not comparable to a typical apartment complex.  Student housing developments typically have individual leases to the tenant (i.e two or three leases per unit) and that include all utilities.  This is the case with the subject property.  With individual leases, students are not liable for a roommate who fails to pay rent.  Because these student housing complexes are typically located at least a mile from campus, they will feature a clubhouse, fitness centers, study rooms, recreational facilities, computer labs and other amenities readily available on-campus."