1. I don’t like Western building more student housing because it will be harder for me to rent out
2. I live Western building more because they will bring more students to the city, and by extension I will rent my house out
If you fall in logic #1 you will have a hard time, because Western is not going anywhere. The reason why Landlords in London, Ontario rent to students around the campus is because of Western and its reputation.
Here is a little update on Western’s plans for building and renovating their students housing:
- In September 2013, Ontario Hall residence added 600 more beds. September 2014 400 more beds will be added. This is 1000 beds total.
- In September 2013, Brescia College added 300 beds.
- Total beds added as of September 2014: 1300
- Delaware Hall will be closed from September 2014 to September 2015 for upgrades, which provides 450 beds
- First year enrollment at Western university has increased from 4350 to 4900 in the last few years.
- This does not include the focus on international students, where Western does not provide any statistics.
- Total Extra Beds Needed as of September 2014: 1000 (and this is not including official statistics on the push for international students.
So as you can see here, Western (and myself) suggest that there will not be any ripple effects into the local market. Although there are private buildings going up, Western is the recruiting machine that brings the students to the city and keeps them here for a few years. For this, all Landlords should be grateful. If Landlords subscribe to the logic of Western is always building to suck up the entire student rental market, I don’t believe that and the statistics show this. Western is building for its needs and after first year Landlords should be able to find a group of tenants and hold onto them for a few years.
Here are a few quick statistics from Western Off Campus Housing:
2013 AVERAGE RENTAL PRICES
Average rental prices, as of May 2013, based on the Off-Campus Housing listings:
Bachelor Apartment $550 (inclusive)
One-bedroom Apartment $699 + utilities
Two-bedroom Apartment $830 + utilities
Three-bedroom Apartment $1284 + utilities
Room $434 inclusive
Share House/Apt. $443/489 + utilities
A lot of these numbers are derived from Western’s Off Campus Housing Website prices which are not exactly accurate because some of the houses don’t rent, and some of the houses rent for a negotiated price. However, I do believe that these numbers are roughly what Landlord’s should be looking for in regards to rent for this year depending on their property, bedrooms, condition, location, etc.