A new survey of 6,039 domestic and international students from 20 universities in 16 cities across Canada should give developers and other housing providers valuable insights into what their potential tenants are looking for.

Julian Wells started a real estate club three years ago while attending the University of Victoria, started collecting data for a student housing initiative, and then founded Studenthaus — which launched the survey with the help of 25 paid student interns who collected responses at campuses from September to December 2025.

“I want to understand what students think, how they live today, how they want to be living, how they commute and everything about who they are and how they make their housing decisions,” Wells said in an interview with RENX. Studenthaus’ chief executive officer and lone full-time employee, Wells moved back to Toronto after graduating.

“I'm really bullish on the different things we can use that for, whether that's helping people build housing in the right neighbourhoods, targeting the right amenities for students, or designing policies that align with what students want to help solve problems for students.” 

Need for off-campus, purpose-built student housing

The United Kingdom, United States and Australia are 20 to 25 per cent ahead of Canada in terms of the number of purpose-built student beds provided per student, according to Wells.

Canadian students in the survey ranked housing availability as the second most important factor for choosing their university — right after program quality but ahead of campus social life, scholarships and proximity to family. 

Post-secondary institutions have limited finances and land to deliver the scale of housing that students in Canada need, so Wells is an advocate of off-campus, purpose-built student housing.

“If you take students out of the broader rental pool by giving them their own housing options that are purposeful for them, you ease pressure on the broader housing market, which maybe makes it easier for a family to find a home in a community which currently may be rented by a large group of students,” Wells said. 

“If you can create housing for those students that’s tailored to their needs, you create space for others in the market.”

Cost is important

Students responding to the survey ranked cost the No. 1 factor in their housing decisions by a wide margin, ahead of quality, location and living with friends.

However, just 36.1 per cent of renters said their rent was unaffordable. That could be because 66.2 per cent of them had family help in paying their rent - and 60.4 per cent of that group had their families paying all their rent.

While there’s a need for some of the higher-end student housing that’s being delivered, Wells thinks more should be built at the mid-market level to cater to a wider range of people.

The survey showed there are certain features students are more willing to pay for than others:

• 67 per cent would pay an extra $250 per month to live five minutes from campus versus 45 minutes;
• 49.5 per cent would pay an extra $150 per month for a furnished unit;
• 48.3 per cent would pay an extra $150 per month for an en suite bathroom;
• 40.8 per cent would pay an extra $50 per month for a gym in the building;
• and 14.6 per cent would pay an extra $50 per month for a games room in the building.

“That indicates to me that if someone's building student housing and have the opportunity to build less amenity space, like a games room or movie room or stuff like that, and instead create more units — which allows them to bring the average rent down across the building — they should do that,” Wells said.

There was a wide range in the size of space students wanted to live in, from dorm-size units to studios and places with one, two, three and four or more bedrooms.

“That's why it's really important to understand the consumers that you're working with and who you think the target demographic is for what's being built,” Wells observed. “It's a good way to avoid having a situation where you build something that the market doesn't actually want.” 

International and domestic students

The federal government has reduced the number of international students permitted to study in Canada, partly to alleviate the country’s overall housing crisis. 

Students from 96 foreign countries responded to the survey. India had the highest representation at 16.5 per cent, followed by the U.S. at 14.9 per cent and China at 8.8 per cent. 

The survey showed international students paid $1,248.58 a month in rent, compared to $1,177.76 for domestic local students and $1,110.87 for domestic mobile students.

Wells said his research has shown international students are quite polarized when it comes to housing. Those from more affluent backgrounds are willing to spend more money and want highly amenitized buildings, while others who have little money are making every choice to try and save it.

“I've talked to international students who are living in apartments with six other people in a three-bedroom apartment because they want to bring costs down however they can,” Wells said.

The survey found international students were far more willing to commute longer distances than either domestic local or domestic mobile students.