Smith Equities Reports Lackluster Year of Leasing in Central Florida Student Housing Market

 ORLANDO, FL -- Paul M. Guyet (top right photo), Student Housing Specialist at Orlando, FL-based Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors, reports that in what seems to have been a rather lackluster year of leasing in both markets, two new student housing complexes came on the market this year, one at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando and the other at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa..

There are also several new properties in the pipeline planned for next year and several years after that. 

At UCF, University House was a resounding success leasing all 995 of its bedrooms. Most of the leasing was done from a mobile trailer/office while the complex was under construction. The community has all the bells and whistles, including a Hi‐tech gaming lounge w/ multi‐screen TV wall.

At USF, Sterling North Campus came online with a bit less fanfare as its final lease‐up tally for its 734 bedrooms was in the mid 90%.

UCF is like that never‐ending “Eveready Battery”. It just continues to grow and grow and grow and it now has over 60,000 students, an increase of about 2,000 students, keeping its status as the second largest university in the country.

However the freshmen class had a slight reduction (down by 200) so

most of UCF’s enrollment growth seems to have come from transfer students who graduate from the area’s community colleges and unemployed and underemployed people who go back to school to upgrade their educations and job prospects.

Many of these transfer/graduate students do not use student housing to the extent that other four year students do. On‐line classes may also cut down on the use of student housing since those students can learn from home or another location.

For a complete copy of the company’s news release and full statistics, please contact:

Paul M. Guyet

Student Housing Specialist

Senior Investment Advisor/Mortgage Broker

Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors (SEREIA)

350 East Pine Street

Orlando, FL 32801

 Tel: (407) 422-0704 X 105

Fax: (407) 422-0705

Cell: (407) 925-7608

Email: PGuyet@SmithEq.com

 SEREIA Websites: www.SmithEq.com | www.MyRentComps.com