The Opportunity for Property Owners to Enter the Student Housing Market
If you’re planning to enter the student housing rental market, a smart video intercom access control system plays a key role when updating your building with the smart tech that today’s college students expect.
The student housing market needs more inventory. With 60% of college students living in rentals not owned by the university, that’s an opportunity for property owners to update their units to accommodate students.
How Gen Zers Are Driving Demand for Smart Apartment Technology
If your property doesn’t support smart technology, like a smart video intercom, you’re at a disadvantage. That’s because college-age Gen Z students have grown up with internet-connected devices and digital amenities are not just lifestyle preferences. They are an expectation of a particular kind of experience.
But building owners can deliver the smart tech experiences today’s students expect. Here’s how to do it without breaking the bank.
5 Tips to Get Started with Smart Apartment Technology
#1. Pre-install High-Speed Internet
Gen Z, the generation after Gen Y, millennials, was born from 1997 onward, making them between the ages 18 – 24. 
This generation grew up with smartphones and constant connectivity to the internet for school, social media, and on-demand entertainment. It’s no surprise then that Gen Zers see high-speed internet as a must-have amenity. 91% of apartment residents say high-speed internet is an important factor when considering an apartment.
How to Get Started
Talk with internet service providers (ISPs) in your area and request a quote for whole building or community wide high-speed internet access to all residents at a set price.
#2 Pre-install Building-wide Wi-fi
One of the lifestyle necessities of incoming college students is connectivity. And the wi-fi connection in your student housing property shouldn’t stop at residents’ doors. Students also want to be able to download and stream in common areas, which means providing wi-fi access throughout the entire property. Considering Gen Z’s reliance on high-speed internet, it’s no surprise that 75% of Gen Z apartment residents said that wi-fi should be pre-installed.
“We are finding that students are willing to pay more for premium bandwidth versus basic bandwidth, not unlike the days when there were premium and basic cable packages.” Richard Holtz, CEO of Infinisys Electronic Architects
According to Holtz, “landlords should be aware of their property’s bandwidth. Almost everything is wireless-capable today, but the more residents you have in the building, the more wireless connections can be slowed down. It’s important to have the right ratio, approximately one wi-fi access point to every four students to accommodate approximately 10 devices per student. However, it doesn’t have to be at an increased cost to the property owner as 1 in 4 residents would pay over $31.00 a month to get the hi-tech apartment they want.
Gen Z Insight
As children, Gen Z experienced a world that operated at speed, scale, and scope. Their use of powerful digital tools allowed them to be self-reliant as well as collaborative. Similarly, because they could learn about people and
cultures around the globe from an early age, they developed a greater appreciation for diversity and the importance of finding their own unique identities.
#3 Pre-install Eco-friendly, Affordable Smart In-unit Controls to Attract Gen Z Students
Gen Zers care about alternative energy because they see it as a way of mitigating climate change and addressing pollution. A smart power outlet looks and works like an ordinary electrical outlet but can also be used to remotely control electronic appliances and monitor energy usage with a built-in Smart Meter to optimize energy efficiency. Smart Thermostatsallow residents to program and easily manage the temperature in their homes based on several factors including daily schedules, vacations, weather conditions, and more.
#4 Step up Security with Smart Video Intercoms
Generation Z is acutely aware of security issues, having grown up in a world where the U.S. has had at least 607 mass shootings through November 22, 2022. That’s just short of the 638 mass shootings in the country at this point last year – the worst year on record since the Gun Violence Archive began tracking them in 2014.
It’s important that student renters can see exactly what you are doing to protect them. Security upgrades can also improve the value of your property and help with renter turnover, reducing a huge financial drain.
While it might seem like a big undertaking, upgrading the security of a building doesn’t have to mean hiring 24/7 security guards or offsite monitoring. It just requires some more modern security solutions. Here are five technologies you can install to create a safer and more welcoming environment for student residents.
- Cloud-based access control for common areas
- Smart video intercoms
- Smart locks
- Smart cameras
Take things a step further by outfitting each room with its own speaker to create an intelligent and affordable home audio system that additionally controls the lights and window shades by voice. You can even add a monitored life safety system such as CO2 monitoring
#5 Give Residents a Smartphone App for Access Control
Gen Zers spend about 11 hours per week on their mobile phone, more than any other generation to date. More than a quarter of Gen Zers use their phones for more than 10 hours per day. Since this age group does practically everything on their smartphone, they want to manage apartment entry with the convenience of an app. Think of it as a keyless entry. Traditional keys end up at the bottom of a bag or backpack. But the phone is always on hand.
It comes back to Gen Z’s focus on convenience as an amenity. They want to control who can enter their unit with a recurring guest pass for friends and family and a one-time pass for, you guessed it, a pizza delivery. An access control app that enables student renters to control who can enter their apartment when they’re not at home is, well, super convenient.
Student Housing as an Opportunity for Property Owners
With an estimated 20.5 million enrollments by 2027, and with the top 175 American universities only able to house 21.5% of their undergraduates in on-campus housing, significant opportunities remain for investors in competitive student housing. While purpose-built off-campus housing is the domain of large investment property companies, 55% of the rental student housing market is less than 10 units in size for the 70 largest four-year universities. Whether you enter the student housing market or not, an investment in smart apartment technology and video intercom systems will increase the value of your property and attract renters of any age.
Source: What Apartment Renters Actually Value
Source: Multi-Family Executive
Source: Stanford News
Source: Forbes
Source: CNN
Source: Criteo
Source: Research.com
Source: NMHC, 2018
