Covid-19 Impacts on Centaline US Student Housing

Posted byPosted inEnglish

Covid-19 Impacts on Centaline US Student Housing

2020-03-26

The two student housing apartments owned and managed by Centaline US Student Fund are located in San Antonio, Texas and Athens, Georgia, where the outbreak of COVID-19 is relatively contained. The local governments have already carried out policies to restrict social interactions and strengthen public hygiene.

Two universities (UTSA and UGA) are situated in the suburbs that are away from densely populated area. Both of them have suspended face-to-face teaching and switched to online learning, which make the virus spread more controllable.

Current Leasing

  • No suspected or confirmed case.
  • Most of the residents choose to stay in our premises.
  • Some choose to move out or stay home but they have to pay rent according to contract requirement.
  • No breach of contract has been recorded due to the outbreak.
  • According to our survey, residents appreciate our high standard of sanitation and disinfection and consider safer to stay than move out.

Pre-leasing

  • Our target tenants are locals so the retreat of international students has limited impact on preleasing.
  • FaceTime virtual tours and full-scale online application have been arranged for AY20-21 preleasing.
  • As for March, Eclipse on Broad has reached 93.8% pre-lease rate with around 6.5% rent growth. The Estates at San Antonio also leads the market with 63.2% pre-lease rate and 1.7% rent growth.

The Future

  • Student Housing outperformed other assets in the last financial crisis. Its strong resilience to recession and stable performance helps us to fight the epidemic impacts on economy.
  • The US Senate has approved a $2 trillion stimulus package to provide a jolt to an economy reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, including direct payment to citizens and deferment of federal student loans. This would help students to pass this difficult time.
  • Reduction of interest rate can further strengthen our cash flow.
  • Student population will not drop drastically because of the epidemic, which keeps the demand for student housing and occupancy rate in good shape.

×