A new joint venture is making a nearly billion-dollar bet on student housing.
Chicago-based student housing firm Scion Group teamed up with Los Angeles-based Ares Management to buy a 12-property portfolio for $910 million, according to a press release.
The 7,578-bed portfolio, traded for $120,000-per bed. Student housing deals are typically quantified by the number of beds traded rather than units, because units often include multiple bedrooms to accommodate roommates and sometimes come semi- or fully furnished.
Chicago-based Harrison Street Asset Management was the seller of the portfolio, which spans a dozen college towns. The firm had previously made a big push toward student housing and data centers, closing a $2.5 billion investment fund in late 2024 geared toward acquiring such assets.
The student housing properties that Harrison Street sold in the recent deal are near schools including Auburn University, Arizona State University, Ohio State University and Washington State University, among others.
The venture marks a new partnership for Scion, which specializes in student housing and Ares, a massive financial manager with $644 billion of assets under management as of March 31, according to the release.
The sector has seen steady demand with college enrollment up 1.8 percent nationally in fall 2025 and pre-leasing outpacing last year’s rates, according to data on 200 U.S. universities tracked by Yardi Matrix.
But rent growth continued to decelerate at the start of the year. In February, average rents reached $925 per bed, or about 0.4 percent year-over-year. That increase was much smaller than the 3.5 percent growth the sector experienced in February 2025, Yardi found.
The properties sold by Harrison Street are:
- The Copper Beech Harrisonburg Apartments in Harrisonburg, Virginia
- The 87 at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana
- The Flats on University in Fairfax, Virginia
- The Grove at Auburn in Auburn, Alabama
- The Grove at Pullman in Pullman, Washington
- The Grove at Stephenville in Stephenville, Texas
- The Lyndon in San Marcos, Texas
- The Piedmont in Tempe, Arizona
- The Verge at Grand Forks in Grand Forks, North Dakota
- The Twin River Commons in Binghamton, New York
- The Varsity House in Gainsville, Florida
- The Lark in Columbus, Ohio