Global Education City (GEC), a provider of student housing in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, has an investment from Pomerleau Capital for a $135-million plan to develop new rental homes aimed at international and domestic students. 

Financial details of Pomerleau's stake in the project were not released, but it's part of a broader collaboration between the two firms to develop student housing properties across Metro Vancouver. The deal was announced by Avison Young. 

This aspect of the partnership involves an investment in the $135-million project in Vancouver's Oakridge area. The development represents a significant part of GEC’s ambitious $800-million development portfolio in the region.

GEC is a subsidiary of Global Education Communities Corp. (GECC), which also owns Sprott Shaw College. The organization started buying and managing rental housing buildings about 10 years ago, said Toby Chu, president and CEO of GECC. 

GEC now operates nine buildings in Metro Vancouver providing housing to students from 95 different schools in the region, Chu told RENX in an interview. It houses about 1,300 renters. 

The Pomerleau investment will initially focus on a new development at 42nd Avenue and Cambie Street in Vancouver, Chu said. Located roughly 100 metres from the Oakridge Canada Line station, the site is rezoned with the development and building permits in hand, he said. They expect demolition to start this month.

The result will be an 18-storey building that could accommodate up to 450 students. The units will include studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom homes. "All of our units are fully furnished," Chu said. 

While GEC's buildings are aimed at students, all renters are welcome, he said. 

Strategic alignments needed in student housing

“This (deal) is a prime example of how strategic alignments can create substantial value for all stakeholders involved, including the broader community," said Jason Mah, principal with Avison Young in Vancouver, who helped arrange the deal. 

He said this investment will create stability and will help student housing flourish in the region. The Vancouver area continues to face a housing crisis and that affects students.

"Housing is housing, and there is a huge need for student housing,” he said, adding that families of students either in Canada or abroad want to know their children are securing homes in safe, comfortable environments when they come to study at Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia or other local institutions.

"There really is no one in the market doing what they're doing right now in terms of off-campus student housing," Mah told RENX. He said the deal creates a partnership that will unlock the development of more student housing projects in the region. 

This investment by Pomerleau will also leverage the firm's substantial construction resources to meet the growing needs of GEC’s student housing projects, Chu said. Pomerleau did not provide a spokesperson for comment for this article. 

But is demand slowing down?

In 2024, the Canadian government enacted a temporary cap to reduce the number of new student visas by more than 30 per cent. It says the new target for 2025 and 2026 will be 437,000 permits. In 2024, the target was 485,000 permits.

Those running Canada's post-secondary schools say the reduction in foreign students could pose a significant demand threat to schools. 

Asked about falling international student demand for housing, Chu said his company is not worried. 

"It doesn't matter," he said. "We have . . . 0.9 per cent (rental housing) vacancy in the City of Vancouver and the demand continues."

He said overall demand for its housing has already been supplanted by domestic students. Canadian students used to comprise 17 per cent of demand in the GEC system.

"Since early this year, our Canadian student percentage moved up to 44 per cent (taking) up any available space," Chu said. "So, it’s just a change of demographic group; the vacancy, it remains near zero."

In data provided to RENX by GEC, it counts 553,000 total post-secondary students in B.C. It tallies 217,600 as international, although given the warnings by university and college operators around the country, those numbers will likely fall. 

Chu said a slower rental development pipeline in the city will stoke steady demand for housing, even if it's easing a bit in the short term. The long-term trajectory is that more students of all kinds will need housing.

The Oakridge project will take about 30 months to complete, Chu said. Between now and summer 2025, his team will be looking at additional projects to unroll with Pomerleau as an investment partner.