Student Housing
| Newer Posts | Older Posts |
 |
 |
Sales Boom at Hunters Ridge (and Camden Townes) |
|
 After several (very!) slow years of condo sales at Hunters Ridge, there has been a rush of sales this year --- 13 as of 11/13/2013. Prices have come down a bit further this year, to a median of $56,250.  Sales have also increased (slightly) at Camden Townes (Hunters Ridge Townhomes) -- and prices have started to tick upwards a bit to a median of $78,500. Here is all of the data....  Search for properties for sale in... Hunters Ridge or Camden Townes. | |
 |
 |
|
|
JMU enrollment continues to grow, but does not indicate a need for more off campus student housing |
|
 JMU just published updated enrollment projections as recently approved by the State Council of High Education for Virginia. There are plenty of different figures that can be used to understand JMU enrollment, but the most pertinent relative to our local housing market is the "Total On-Campus Headcount" as shown in the graph above. This figure is the best reflection of the number of students who will need housing, either on JMU campus, or off campus. These figures, and their changes over time, are the best numbers to be using when analyzing the need for off campus student housing in Harrisonburg. First, as you can see, JMU is still growing and intends to keep growing for years to come. This is good in many ways for JMU, our local economy, our community, etc. The question that is of interest to me, however, is how this all relates to Harrisonburg's off campus student housing market. A lots can happen in 5 short years (2008-2013)....
Over the past five years, there has been an increase of 1,445 students needing housing....and during the same time frame, housing was built for 3,792 additional students. This has led to a significant oversupply of student housing, with real world implications such as....
And yet, at the same time....
Why did it all happen? So, we apparently have a tremendous oversupply of student housing in Harrisonburg -- many wonder why it happened. Read my theories here. Looking forward.... Given this new data (at the top of this post) about increases in JMU enrollment (Total On-Campus Headcount) what can we say or know about the future?
This is a lot of information -- if you have questions, feel free to email me at scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com. | |
|
|
|
|
Auction scheduled for University Fields Apartments, a 228 unit student housing property on 23 acres in Harrisonburg, VA |
|
 In another interesting twist to our oversupplied student housing market, a 228-Unit Student Housing Property just off Port Republic Road may be auctioned off this week. Here is an overview of the opportunity via Auction.com.... Auction.com presents the opportunity to acquire a non-performing loan secured by University Fields Apartments, a 288-unit / 1152-bed multifamily complex located in Harrisonburg, Virginia that caters to the student demand from James Madison University (enrollment of 19,000). Built in two phases, Phase I in 1989 and Phase II in 1997, and later renovated in 2004, the property consists of 22 three-story buildings situated on 23.55 acres. Amenities include an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness center, tennis court, a cyber cafe with WIFI, and a clubhouse. The units feature fully-equipped kitchens, a full size washer and dryer, walk-in closets, mini-blinds, high-speed internet access, vaulted ceilings, and both balconies and patios with storage. Centrally located in the historic and scenic Shenandoah Valley in west-central Virginia, Harrisonburg is served by Interstate 81 and is located approximately 110 miles north of Roanoke, 125 miles west of Richmond and 125 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.A few other interesting tidbits:
| |
|
|
|
|
Looking to purchase a large investment property rented to lots of JMU (or EMU) students? Now might be your opportunity. |
|
 I have come to know these two things to be true....
That changed earlier this week, when nine such properties were listed for sale. Click here to review the details of these investment properties -- they house lots of students, paying healthy amounts of rent, and thus they carry a high price tag. | |
|
|
|
|
A glimpse into a rezoning request, via Aspen Heights |
|
 Aspen Heights is a planned college student housing community on Port Republic Road. Or, as described by the Aspen Heights marketing team.... A neighborhood of craftsman homes with all the convenience and amenities of a luxury multi-family dwelling complex.  To its credit, this does seem to be a notably different type of community compared to most other college housing complexes in Harrisonburg. That said, it is being built amidst (adjacent to) several existing single family home neighborhoods (Ashly Meadows, Stone Spring Village) and those homeowners have a vested interest in it being a well-planned community. This PDF (from the Rockingham County Planning Commission's April 2012 meeting) gives some insight into the Rockingham County rezoning process, showing some very detailed information including:
| |
|
|
|
|
Site Plan for Aspen Heights, Stone Spring Courtyard, Campus View Condos |
|
It has become a part of my routine to take a look through the City of Harrisonburg Planning Commission board packets, as these are available for public consumption, and often have some interesting insights into forthcoming developments in the City of Harrisonburg. Read on for some highlights of what will be discussed during the October 10, 2012 meeting (at 7PM). Above is the site plan for Aspen Heights which is the new gated student housing complex being built on Port Republic Road. View more details on their Facebook page or web site. Per the site plan, there will be 183 buildings with a total of 600 bedrooms.  Above is the site plan for Stone Spring Courtyard (here as a PDF) the new luxury gated apartment community on Port Republic Road.  Above is the revised, proposed site plan for Campus View Condos (here as a PDF) showing the new layout of buildings as proposed by the new developer of the complex. The original developer was foreclosed on, and the new developer is proposing to 108 apartments in 8 buildings, instead of the same number of units 9 buildings. View the full Planning Commission board packet (and from previous meetings) here. | |
|
|
|
|
New hospital, road infrasture lead to new developments along Port Republic Road |
|
 Click on the map above to view a larger version. In the past several years we have seen quite a few changes on Port Republic Road on the map shown above, including:
All of this new road infrastructure, plus the new hospital, plus a clustering of residential developments over the past 15-20 years has lead to quite a few new projects labeled on the map above.
Given the new hospital, the new road infrastructure, and the large area of existing housing, it is not surprise that we are seeing these new developments along Port Republic Road. Stoneport is the largest of the new projects, and it will certainly be interesting to see what businesses are established in that location. | |
|
|
|
|
Hunters Ridge Townhomes rebrands as Camden Townes |
|
 Hunters Ridge Townhomes --- located on Port Republic Road immediately adjacent to Hunters Ridge Condos has now rebranded and is being called Camden Townes Townhouses. The common name (Hunters Ridge) between the condominium development (Hunters Ridge Condos: 3-story, 12-unit buildings) and the townhouse development (Hunters Ridge Townhomes: rows of 6+ side-by-side two-story townhouses) likely caused some confusion about the connection (or lack thereof) between the two neighborhoods.
| |
|
|
|
|
Tenants can make or break an investment property |
|
 Especially when it comes to student housing, it can be quite helpful to view an investment property once the tenants are in place. I took the above photo when showing an investment property last week -- as you can tell, the tenants moved the most important items in first.... | |
|
|
|
|
Map of Hunters Ridge Condos and Townhouses in Harrisonburg, VA |
|
 Out of town investors often wonder where a particular property is located at Hunters Ridge --- now they need wonder no longer. Click the map above for a printable version (4.8M) of this map of Hunters Ridge. I have labeled each condo building and group of townhouses by its address. View properties for sale in: Hunters Ridge Condos, Hunters Ridge Townhouses | |
|
|
|
|
Property values increasing in Hunters Ridge? |
|
Is it possible that values at Hunters Ridge have bottomed out and are on the rise? Don't read into the upswing too much, as there is only one data point for each property type so far this year --- but this will be a trend to continue to monitor.   View currently available condos and townhouses in Hunters Ridge. | |
|
|
|
|
JMU (slightly) boosts first year student count, continuing steady growth trajectory |
|
 After several years in a row of relatively similar sized classes of first year students at JMU, the first year headcount will jump up a bit this coming year, as shown above.  Despite this jump in first year students, the overall growth trajectory will stay relatively similar to what JMU has experienced over the past several years. These increases in enrollment will (gradually) help the over-supplied student housing market in Harrisonburg. If you haven't heard, there are many more places for students to live than there are students. (read up here) These increases are also (continued) great news for the local economy, as JMU is a major economic engine for the local economy -- as both students and faculty/staff live here, work here, spend here, etc. This is not, of course, to ignore the significant contributions made to our local economy by Bridgewater College, Eastern Mennonite University and Blue Ridge Community College. The data for the graphs above is based on JMU's enrollment projections. "Total On-Campus Headcount" is the number of students who are taking classes on the JMU campus. | |
|
|
|
|
New gated luxury community for JMU students on Port Republic Road? |
|
 Aspen Heights LLC, is attempting to rezone a 23-acre parcel of land on Port Republic Road (shown above) for a gated, luxury community for students. The city has some doubts, per the Daily News Record article, which seem to include the current glut of student housing in Harrisonburg, as well as the surrounding largely owner occupied neighborhoods.  Some of the student housing developments that Aspen Heights, LLC has built (yes, the photo above is a student housing development) seem quite nice. View photos of their communities, their current locations, and what they believe sets them apart as a student housing community. This Tuesday there will be a Planning Commission meeting to discuss this potential rezoning. In other related student housing news, you'll notice some new student housing popping up on Stone Spring Road near the RMH Wellness Center. | |
|
|
|
|
Developers continue campaign to end homelessness amongst local college students |
|
 OK, so perhaps homelessness amongst local college students is an imaginary problem --- but if it were an issue, local student housing developers are certainly being VERY proactive in making sure there will be plenty of housing for college students for a LONG time into the future. Per the Daily News Record yesterday, the student housing project on Stone Spring Road is now underway again after having stalled for several years. When it stalled, I had hoped that the developers (both local and out of state) had seen the light and realized that the local student housing market was oversaturated. But alas, these facts don't seem to be influencing their decisions. From the DNR article.... Harman (the local developer) said he's not concerned about the potential surplus of student beds. "We're just building our project," he said. "I'm not paying attention to what everybody else is doing." As a side note, that does seem to be a winning strategy, as many or most of the newer complexes have not had any issues in becoming fully leased. So, why am I a bit less than neutral on this news? Well, the student housing market is a bit out of kilter (supply exceeds demand) and this new development will tip it even further out of balance. An out of balance market tends to be an unhealthy market, and in this case it can negatively affect individual property owners (in student complexes) much more than it will ultimately affect larger corporate owners of student housing. For further reading.....
| |
|
|
|
|
Where do JMU college students live in Harrisonburg? |
|
 Click the map above for a larger version of this map. | |
|
|
|
|
Sales Updates on Hunters Ridge Condos and Townhomes |
|
If you believe in the mantra of buying low and selling high, now is a great time to buy a property at Hunters Ridge. A variety of factors have led to a significant decline in sales prices in Hunters Ridge over the past several years, including:
 Condo sales are still extraordinarily slow, with only 6 in the past 2.5 years, as compared to the high of 50 sales in 2005. Median sales prices have declined from $101K down to $48K.  Townhome sales picked up quite a bit last year with 14 sales, though there have not been any thus far in the first five months of 2011. Median sales prices dropped from $145K down to $65K. Here is the full data set for your enjoyment:  Do you need more information about student housing or multi-family housing Harrisonburg? Call me at 540-578-0102 or e-mail me at scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com. | |
|
|
|
|
Sale of North 38 Apartment Complex Sets New Valuation of Student Housing in Harrisonburg |
|
Did you know Facebook is now estimated by some to be valued at $65,000,000,000? Yes, that's $65 BILLION dollars. How do analysts come to that number? The valuation is based on the percentage stake that is given to a new investor as compared to the dollar value of the investment that they make in the company. Just two months ago, a Goldman Sachs investment in Facebook put the value at $50 BILLION.  How does this relate to real estate in Harrisonburg, VA? An investor just bought a significant stake in the student housing market in Harrisonburg, which provides another data point upon which other student housing owners can value their investment.The big news --- 38 North has been sold for $32.8 million. The specs of this recently built (2008) student housing complex include:
| |
|
|
|
|
Should Local Government Make Rezoning Decisions Based On Market Conditions? |
|
 In my opinion, there is already more than enough college student in Harrisonburg. That said, a developer will soon be starting a new student housing complex on South Main Street near Valley Lanes. So....maybe Harrisonburg needs a student housing moratorium? Joe Fitzgerald states (at the link above) "We can't flat out ban student housing, but we can stop rezoning more land for it." I never considered that a moratorium on rezoning could be enacted. Several questions then come to my mind.... Is local government overstepping its bounds to create such a moratorium (via *not* rezoning)? Perhaps not --- local government wouldn't be prohibiting development, just the rezoning for development. So, local government is now making rezoning decisions based on market conditions? Isn't a landowner entitled to make that part of the decision? If a surplus of student housing creates a burden on the locality in some way (based on the new use or non-use of the old student housing??) then perhaps local government ought to factor in market conditions? What does this sort of a moratorium look like? Is this an unspoken stance of local government? Or a drafted and approved policy? Could this be challenged legally? So, perhaps this all comes back to property owner rights? Certainly, a property owner has the right to use or develop their property as the zoning ordinances allows them to do so. But does a property owner have any rights when it comes to rezoning? Are there reasonable, and unreasonable factors that can and cannot be used in a zoning decision? Weight in if you have an opinion -- this raises more questions than answers for me. | |
|
|
|
|
Do Harrisonburg and JMU Need More Student Housing? |
|
(The Short Answer: No!) As reported by hburgnews a developer from Glen Allen is moving forward with a developing a community for 1,500 college students. Paul Riner astutely points out (WHSV) that it might be five to ten years before enough students exist at JMU for the community to be fully utilized. Is there really too much student housing already built?
A few years ago, Harrisonburg created an incentive (with good intentions) for student housing developers to build now, now, now. Much of the land in the City that was annexed several decades ago was zoned R-3, which allowed (until recently) a property owner to build student housing (in the form of three-story apartment buildings) without asking for permission. Much of this R-3 land was adjacent to single family home neighborhoods, and thus Harrisonburg took this "use by right" out of the R-3 zoning classification. R-3 property owners were left with a three year window of time in which they could build this higher density housing (student housing) without asking for permission -- and thus the construction began! Finally, here are some fun quotes out of the Daily News Record article of July 25, 2007: "... James Madison University recently announced plans to increase enrollment by 4,100 students by 2013." Total growth will probably end up being around 1,900 students. "With the influx, we are going to need housing. We are going to need housing quickly." Well, we have that new housing now -- but it turns out we don't need much of it! | |
|
|
|
|
Do You Think Harrisonburg's Student Housing Vacancy Rates Are High Now? You Haven't Seen Anything Yet! |
|
 As reported in detail at hburgnews, a new student housing complex is one step closer to being built on South Main Street. The 60 acre tract is proposed to feature 466 apartments for college students --- but wait, certainly the developer would first be examining the state of the current student housing market --- right?? Let's take a quick look at what has happened over the past several years in Harrisonburg's student housing market: In Fall 2007, there was a relatively even balance between JMU students living off campus, and housing available for said students. There were 11,654 students, and approximately the same number of "beds" (bedrooms in apartments, etc) available for those students. Between Fall 2007 and Fall 2009 the the number of off campus students increased by 382 students. But.... there were 3,313 new beds for these students! This huge increase in housing included new complexes (Charleston Townes, North 38, Campus View Condos, 865 East, Copper Beach, Urban Exchange) and additions to current complexes (Sunchase, new JMU residence hall). This left an off campus vacancy of roughly 20% --- with 12,036 off campus students compared to 14,967 off campus beds for students. While growth is still occurring at JMU, it is quite slow because of state budget cuts for higher education. Thus, the vacancy rate for Fall 2010 will likely only decline to 18.5%, and per my projections, by the time we get to Fall 2013, there will still be an off campus vacancy rate of 15% --- with 13,090 off campus students compared to 15,387 off campus beds for students. But it seems that a company out of Glen Allen, VA is ready to jump into this exciting student housing market, add help pump that vacancy rate up even higher. This new community will bring 466 apartments, described as 1, 2 and 4 bedroom apartments, laid out per the site plan below.  Let's assume 1/3 of the apartments are 1 bedroom, 1/3 are 2 bedrooms, and 1/3 have 4 bedrooms. This equates to roughly 1,087 new beds for students. They'd like to have them finished for Fall 2011, which means we'll have 12,588 off campus students available to fill 16,286 off campus beds, shooting us up to 23% off campus vacancy. But the best part yet --- where will this student housing be located? Next to JMU campus? In the midst of other student housing? No and No. This complex is quite a distance from JMU.  Again, read more at hburgnews, as there are a few detailed comments on that site that explain some of the history of the property. SUMMARY: Student housing vacancy in Harrisonburg currently hovers around 20%. A developer is planning to build, likely increasing the vacancy rate to 23%. If I were the developer, I would not develop it as a student housing complex in this community at this time. What are your thoughts? Questions? | |
|
|
| Newer Posts | Older Posts |
Scott Rogers
Funkhouser Real
Estate Group
540-578-0102
scott@funkhousergroup.com
Licensed in the
Commonwealth of Virginia
Home Search
Housing Market Report
Harrisonburg Townhouses
Walk Through This Home
Investment Properties
Harrisonburg Foreclosures
Property Transfers
New Listings
