Despite short-term headwinds, student housing continues to stand out as one of the most resilient and promising sectors in alternative real estate — and Canada remains underdeveloped in comparison to many other countries.
More than 200 senior participants from the real estate and education sectors in Canada, the United States and Europe came together at Toronto’s T3 Bayside on June 4 for the second edition of the Student Housing Summit Canada, hosted by global student housing data and advisory specialist BONARD.
Attendance doubled from last year, providing proof of the growing global interest in Canadian student housing and its advancement locally.
BONARD chief intelligence officer Patrik Pavlacic and director of rented residential Julia Oravec presented the latest Canadian data in a morning intelligence session.
Canadian student accommodation statistics
The number of study permits approved for international university-level students in Canada dropped to 81,040 last year from a high of 139,665 in 2023, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
“Despite a slowdown in international enrolment growth, the Canadian market remains resilient, with the current pipeline covering just 3.5 per cent of unmet demand,” Oravec said.
There were 122,262 university-run beds and 59,556 on- and off-campus private beds last year in the 24 Canadian cities covered by BONARD. Waterloo, Ont. had the lowest proportion of private beds at 41 per cent, while Victoria was highest at 97 per cent.
Just 13 per cent of the country’s total purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) beds have been delivered since 2020, with Winnipeg having the highest proportion at 37 per cent and Calgary the lowest at zero.
There are 27,333 new beds slated to be added across Canada in the next five years, with the largest pipelines in Vancouver, Toronto and Guelph, Ont.
Read the full article here.
