Survey reveals that students demand high-quality Internet access—and they’re willing to relocate if speeds don’t meet their expectations.
Internet access and speed play an overwhelmingly important role in students’ rental housing decisions. Education Realty Trust (EDR) learned this lesson the hard way.
The Memphis, Tenn.-based apartment management company opened a new community with an 80 percent occupancy rate. The following year, the building was 100 percent occupied—but the amount of bandwidth offered remained the same.
“Those 80 extra students immediately ate up our bandwidth and our residents were blasting [us on] Facebook, commenting on the lack of it,” says Christine Richards, Senior Vice President for EDR. “There were even articles in the local newspaper and town meetings regarding the issue. Once the infrastructure was upgraded, the complaints ended and the community went back to 95 percent occupancy—but the situation was eye-opening.”
The response was not surprising, according to a recent survey conducted by J Turner Research, a market research firm for the multifamily housing industry.
Of the 10,288 students (a 20 percent response rate) who responded to the 15-question survey, which examined the importance of technology in student housing, 64 percent said they would consider relocating if Internet speeds in their current apartment didn’t meet expectations.
The survey revealed that 56 percent of students claim they spend between three and five hours on the Internet every day, with another 16 percent spending between five and six hours online. Also of note, speed of Internet access ranked just behind a ‘large bedroom’ and cell phone reception as the most important amenity students seek.
The results of the survey, distributed to 51,945 students across 130 student housing communities nationwide, were presented by Joseph Batdorf, President of J Turner Research, at NAA’s Student Housing Conference & Exposition in February.
Richards and Miles Orth, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Campus Apartments, also shared their reactions to the survey results during the education session.
Besides monitoring usage, following are four other tips from the session to help companies deliver the best bandwidth possible in today’s tech-savvy student housing market:
1. Evaluate infrastructure (and take control). Campus Apartments owns and manages its communities, as well as its bandwidth infrastructure. “If you own the infrastructure, you’re engaged with how bandwidth is delivered,” Orth says. “That can be just as important as owning the buildings themselves. If you can monitor bandwidth in-house, that’s your best bet. Don’t let third-party companies decide how you’re going to do business.”
2. Have a plan to infuse capital. Richards says EDR has recently invested over $1 million in a capital plan should it suddenly need to make significant bandwidth improvements. “It’s expensive but it’s what you have to do and the return is amazing,” she says.
Orth says student housing management companies must invest enough to stay
ahead of the curve. “There isn’t always a direct correlation between adding more bandwidth and getting more rent or leases, but you have to put the money in.”
3. Enlist help from experts. Managing bandwidth is not something they teach at real estate school, Orth says. “This needs to be a class that’s taught, because bandwidth is right up there with location and price in terms of what student residents are looking for. If you’re just a real estate guy, you need to work with someone who specializes in technology. Five years ago, I didn’t see this spike happening, but our technology expert [Andrew Marshall] did.”
4. Survey your residents. At another one of EDR’s communities, no one complained about the Internet speed, so Richards assumed it was fine. She learned otherwise—and understood the importance of surveying—when many residents moved out. “It was the quiet killer,” she says.
Survey results also have helped Campus Apartments justify its investments, Orth says. “Most of the surveys are just affirmations of what we’ve already experienced or known, but it’s great to have concrete information to back-up why we’re spending our limited resources on bandwidth,” he says.
Lauren Boston is NAA’s Staff Writer. She can be reached at 703/797-0678.