Home Away From Home?: Examining Drivers of Housing Market Fluctuations Through A Nationwide Survey of Off-Campus College Housing Markets

Abstract

Universities are often seen as centers for economic growth, but they can also drive housing inequality in surrounding communities. Student demand is frequently linked to rising rents and gentrification, but this overlooks important variations across college towns, market shifts, and COVID-19’s impact. This thesis asks: to what extent do universities and their expanding student population contribute to the nationwide rental housing crisis? Using a fixed effects regression on data from 2012-2022 concerning 1,746 universities, this study examines how proximity to campus and student populations affect rent over time. The results suggest that while being near a campus consistently predicts higher rent, the student presence does not uniformly drive prices – and in the South, is even linked to lower rents. Instead, rents positively correlate with college graduate presence. Thus, universities may influence housing markets not only by attracting students, but by training gentrifiers who transform neighborhoods long after graduation.