A student housing pre-leasing timeline is the month-by-month plan for leasing next August's beds, starting with renewals in October and ending with the last beds filled in the weeks before move-in. Unlike conventional multifamily, where leasing runs all year against a rolling expiry schedule, almost every student lease in a property expires on the same day and has to be re-let for the same day, so the whole year's revenue is decided over one ten-month campaign. The benchmark that tells you whether the campaign is on track is the pre-lease percentage: signed leases for the coming fall as a share of total beds, checked against the curve the market follows.
This is the fall 2027 leasing timeline, refreshed each year on this page. The benchmark curve below uses the fall 2026 season as the reference, taken from Yardi Matrix's monthly tracking of its Yardi 200 university set (over a million beds), and the calendar runs from October 2026 to move-in in August 2027.
The pre-lease curve
The table is the planning benchmark for a purpose-built or converted student asset at a large university. The January to July figures are Yardi Matrix's reported national pre-lease rates for the fall 2026 season; the October to December figures are the typical range operators plan against before national reporting starts, and should be replaced with your own property's history once you have two seasons of it. Final fall 2025 occupancy across the same set was 95.1%, which is the target the curve is heading for.
| Month (fall 2027 season) | Benchmark pre-leased (% of beds) | Fall 2026 season reference | What should be true by month end |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 15–25% | Operator planning range | Renewal window open; renewal rate held; current residents know the date it steps |
| November 2026 | 30–40% | Operator planning range | Most renewals decided; new-lease marketing live; first pricing step announced |
| December 2026 | 40–45% | Operator planning range | Renewal window closed; renewal rate known; new-lease velocity measured weekly |
| January 2027 | 50–55% | 52.3% (Jan 2026) | Spring push launched; roommate matching open; second pricing step |
| February 2027 | 57–62% | 58.6% (Feb 2026) | Campus housing fair season; referral programme running |
| March 2027 | 64–68% | 65.5% (Mar 2026) | Floor-plan mix reviewed; slow unit types re-priced or re-marketed |
| April 2027 | 70–74% | 71.6% (Apr 2026) | Turn planning starts from the pre-lease count; third pricing step or concession decision |
| May 2027 | 76–80% | 78% (May 2026) | Summer leasing plan for late-deciding and international students |
| June 2027 | 83–87% | Interpolated | Waitlist by floor plan; transfer and consolidation planning |
| July 2027 | 88–92% | 89.1% (Jul 2026) | Remaining beds priced to clear; move-in logistics locked |
| August 2027 (move-in) | 93–96% | 95.1% final occupancy (fall 2025) | Physical and economic occupancy reported at bed level |
Two things to read from the curve. The slope is steepest from January to April, when roughly 20 points of occupancy are signed in four months; that is the window in which a lagging property can still catch up, and the window in which pricing steps do the most work. And the last 10 points, from July to move-in, come from the hardest-to-reach residents: transfers, international students, late admits and people whose plans fell through; they need a different channel and usually a different price from the residents who signed in November.
The velocity implied by the curve is the number to manage weekly. For a 400-bed property that needs to go from 52% to 72% between the start of January and the end of April, that is 80 beds in about 17 weeks, or between four and five leases a week. If the property signs two a week for three weeks, the shortfall is visible in February, not in July.
The renewal window
Renewals are the cheapest beds to fill and the first ones to close, and the renewal season student housing operators run in October and November sets the base the rest of the curve stands on. A renewal rate of 40% to 50% on a stabilised property is common; below 30% is a sign of a product or service problem that new leasing will not fix.
The window has four moving parts. The renewal offer goes to current residents in early to mid October, with the rate for next year held at or near the current rate until a stated date (often late November or early December), after which it steps to the new-lease rate. The offer includes the resident's current bed, and usually a first right to a different bed or unit type before it opens to new applicants. Roommate groups renew together where they want to, which is where roommate matching starts. And the window closes on a fixed date, after which the renewal rate is withdrawn and unrenewed beds go to the new-lease pool.
The renewal rate matters twice. It decides the number of beds that turn in August, which sizes the entire turn week plan, and it decides the number of new leases needed from December onwards, which is the denominator for velocity. Publish both numbers to the leasing team the day the window closes.
Pricing steps
Student housing is priced in steps across the season, not at one rate. A starting rate is set for renewals and the earliest new leases, and it rises at announced dates as the pre-lease percentage passes targets, so that residents who commit early pay less and the property captures more as it fills. Three or four steps between October and May is typical, in the region of 2% to 4% each, with the total spread between the first and last rate often 8% to 12%.
The steps should be tied to occupancy triggers, not only dates: a step announced for 1 February that the property has not earned (because it is five points behind the curve) is a step that stalls velocity. Conversely, a property running ahead of the curve in January can take the February step early. Per-bed pricing by unit type is what makes this work; the private-bath beds in a four-bedroom may be full in January while the shared-bath beds are not, and the step applies to the ones that are moving. The by-the-bed rent roll is where the by-type pre-lease rate comes from.
Concessions are the reverse lever, and the cleanest are the ones that do not change the rate: a waived administrative fee, a gift card at signing, a referral payment. Rate cuts should be the last resort because every resident who signed in November hears about them.
Marketing milestones
The campaign follows the academic calendar, and each stage has a channel that works.
August and September, the season before: move-in experience and the first 90 days decide the renewal rate; our post on why retention is won or lost in the first 90 days covers what to do. Collect email and phone consent at move-in for the renewal campaign.
October: renewal launch to current residents and their guarantors (a parent who received the renewal offer will ask the student about it). Website and listing pages updated with the fall 2027 rates, floor plans and the payment plans and guarantor policy, because parents research in October and November.
November and December: campus housing fairs, student organisation partnerships, off-campus housing portals run by the university, and the first pricing step as a deadline. Renewal close and the handover of unrenewed beds to new leasing.
January and February: the spring push. Roommate matching opens for new applicants, referral incentives for current residents, social and search campaigns timed to the return from winter break, and the second pricing step. This is the highest-volume period on the curve.
March and April: admitted-student events and orientation calendars for incoming first-years (where the property leases to them), floor-plan mix review, and the third step. Turn planning starts in April from the pre-lease count.
May to July: summer leasing to transfers, graduate and international students, late admits and waitlists, with a digital-first channel because the campus is empty. Remaining beds by type are priced to clear in July.
What to do if velocity lags
A property that is five or more points behind the curve for two consecutive months has a problem to diagnose, and the diagnosis comes before the fix.
Check the funnel first: leads, tours (in person and virtual), applications, signed leases, by week and by channel. A property with plenty of leads and few tours has a listing or response-time problem; plenty of tours and few applications has a pricing or product problem; plenty of applications and few signed leases has a guarantor, screening or paperwork problem. Each has a different fix.
Check the mix second: pre-lease percentage by unit type and building. Lag is often concentrated in one floor plan (the five-bedroom units, the studios, the building furthest from campus), and re-pricing or re-marketing that type is cheaper than a property-wide concession.
Then act, in this order: fix response times and the tour experience (same-day follow-up, virtual tour on every listing); open roommate matching if it is not open, because it converts single applicants who cannot fill a unit; run a referral programme with current residents; re-price the lagging unit types; add a signing incentive with a deadline; and only then consider a rate change. Whatever is done, measure it weekly against the velocity the curve requires; a fix that adds one lease a week to a five-a-week requirement is not a fix.
Tracking pre-lease percentage in dashboards
The pre-lease dashboard is one page, updated weekly from the leasing system, and it is the document the leasing meeting runs on. The pre-lease percentage benchmark line from the table above sits on it beside the property's actual, so the gap is visible without arithmetic.
The metrics on it: beds pre-leased and percentage of total beds; renewals signed and renewal rate; new leases signed; pre-lease velocity (leases signed per week, actual against required); variance to prior year at the same date and to the benchmark curve; pre-lease percentage by unit type and building; the funnel (leads, tours, applications, signed) by channel; concession cost per signed lease; and, from April, beds turning and the waitlist by type.
In RIOO on NetSuite, the student housing setup holds each resident's lease with its term dates and rent schedule and tracks renewals, so signed leases for the coming term can be reported against total capacity by property and building, with renewals and new leases separated. The rent schedule on each lease records the rate it was signed at. The same records feed the turn week plan and the billing calendar. For the wider set of leasing and occupancy metrics, see our property management KPI cheat sheet, and for the operating model, the student housing page.
Frequently asked questions
Q1. When does student housing pre-leasing start for fall 2027?
Renewals open in October 2026 and new leasing runs from November 2026 through move-in in August 2027. The highest-volume period is January to April, when the market typically moves from about 50% to about 72% pre-leased.
Q2. What is a good pre-lease percentage by month?
Using the fall 2026 season as the benchmark: about 52% in January, 59% in February, 65–66% in March, 72% in April, 78% in May and 89% in July, with final occupancy in the mid-90s at move-in. Properties should calibrate against their own history and their university's calendar.
Q3. How is pre-lease percentage calculated?
Signed leases for the coming term divided by total leasable beds, expressed as a percentage. Renewals and new leases both count once signed; applications and deposits do not. It is reported by property, building and unit type, and compared with the same date in the prior season.
Q4. What is pre-lease velocity?
The number of leases signed per week, compared with the number required to reach the target by a given date. A 400-bed property needing to move from 52% to 72% between January and April needs roughly four to five signed leases a week; velocity below that for two or three weeks running is the earliest sign of a shortfall.
Q5. How do pricing steps work in student housing?
Rates rise at announced dates or occupancy triggers across the season, typically three or four steps of 2% to 4% each between October and May, so early commitment is rewarded and the property captures more as it fills. Steps should be earned by hitting the pre-lease target rather than taken on the calendar alone.
