The Student Rental Market in Occitania: Trends and Analysis for 2023

With the current uncertainties about purchasing power and the difficulties of access to housing, the question of student housing remains a major concern for the start of the new school year in September. After analyzing nearly 9,000 offers and requests for student rentals made over the last 12 months in Occitanie, LocService.fr, a specialist for 15 years in rentals between individuals, publishes an infographic to illustrate the student rental market in the private rental stock. Type of property sought, least expensive and tightest areas, profiles of guarantors. Complete overview of the student housing market in Occitania in 2023, through this study.

56% of students prefer to live in a studio or a T1

Of all the student requests analyzed in Occitania by LocService.fr, 56% are looking for a studio or a one-bedroom apartment as a priority. The one-bedroom apartment (T2) is the choice of 24% of students, more affluent or as a couple. The student room, independent or homestay, receives 4% of searches while shared accommodation is favored by 17% of students.
The average budget for a student in Occitania is €577, lower than the French average (€648). In comparison, those who study in Ile-de-France plan a much higher budget, namely €860 on average, and €953 for Paris.

Toulouse continues to lose ground against Montpellier

On LocService.fr, more than three quarters of student searches in the region are concentrated in Toulouse and Montpellier alone! This confirms the hegemony of these two agglomerations.
However, we are once again observing a decline in demand in Toulouse (33% last year, 44.7% before the crisis), which keeps Montpellier in first place among the cities most in demand in the region by students ( 39.5% last year, 31.8% before the crisis). And this even though Montpellier has higher rents!

Rents remain stable on average

The graph below shows the average rent including charges for student accommodation in Occitanie. The independent room or homestay remains the most economical solution for the student.

A shared room is a little more expensive but allows you to benefit from larger common areas.
In comparison with the study carried out last year, rents have not changed overall, except for rooms in private homes or shared accommodation (red and yellow bars) which have increased slightly by around 3%.
Knowing that the majority of students are looking for a studio as a priority, it is interesting to compare the rents charged for this type of property in the main university towns in the region (graph below).
Montpellier and Toulouse are the most expensive, followed by Nîmes then Perpignan.
Conversely, Tarbes is the most affordable and has even seen its rents fall by -1.5% since last year. Those of Toulouse and Montpellier remain equivalent to those of last year, while Perpignan and
Nîmes are up around +4%.

Below, the average rents, charges included, observed in the Occitanie region for a student studio. For comparison, a studio in the Paris region is negotiated on average €756 and in Paris €881 including charges, i.e. respectively +61% and +88% difference with the average in Occitanie.

A globally slack student rental market

The graph below shows the ranking of the main cities of Occitania according to the number of student requests for an accommodation offer, which illustrates the level of tension of the student housing market in each city. Apart from Montpellier, which seems much tighter than the others, overall the market seems to present relatively few difficulties for tenants. For comparison, Paris is at 2.35, and Lyon (the tightest in France) at 5.15.

The family, the number 1 guarantor of students

Many landlords enjoy renting to students because of the parental deposit. Unsurprisingly, the family therefore assumes the role of guarantor in 86% of cases. Other students (1%) turn to friends while only 2% have no guarantor. 8% of students rely on the Visale guarantee, unchanged since last year.

A majority of candidates already live in the region

53% of candidate tenants looking for accommodation in Occitanie already live there, so they do not change region. Of the remaining 47%, 7.5% come from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 7.2% from Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and 6.8% from PACA. In addition, 4.6% come from abroad.

How to find accommodation in a context of scarcity of supply?

France has been facing for several years, and even more today, a combination of problems which aggravate the difficulties of access to rental housing and which penalize students. The decohabitation (reduction of the number of occupants per household) which increases the demand, the tightening of the loan conditions, the decline in mobility, the thermal sieves hit by a ban on renting, or the flight of investors discouraged by the lack profitability are all factors that fuel the tension in the rental market.

To hope to find accommodation in Occitania despite this context, students must optimize their research and go about it as soon as possible. Contacts must be more efficient to avoid wasting time between repeated calls and unanswered e-mails. LocService.fr responds precisely to this need by offering a system of reverse contact: it is the owners who contact the tenants, after having examined their criteria and their file. In addition, tenants benefit from a coaching service which analyzes their search criteria in real time and offers, if necessary, to adjust them to adapt their application to the specifics of the market. Free for those who offer rental or shared accommodation, the services provided by the site only cost €29 once for students (reduced rate) and are valid until they find their accommodation. Being an individual-to-individual site, LocService.fr also makes it possible to avoid the significant costs charged by agencies, a gain
always appreciable in times of inflation.

Richard Horbette, the founder of LocService.fr, adds: “In addition to saving agency fees, LocService.fr is making a gesture in favor of students’ purchasing power by offering, as every summer for more than 10 years, the Coup de Pouce Student Housing. The purpose of this operation is to allow students to win a check for 300 euros by drawing lots once a week, from May 29 to September 3, 2023. Participation is of course free”.

About LocService.fr

Specialist in rental and shared accommodation between individuals, LocService created the concept of reverse contact almost 20 years ago. With LocService.fr, there are no agency fees, the tenant or roommate fills in his rental request and it is the private owners who contact him directly. LocService.fr thus makes it possible to quickly rent apartments, houses, studios, rooms, furnished apartments or flatshares. The site, which has nearly 2.4 million private users to its credit and 94% favorable opinions, was ranked in 2022 for the fifth time in the top 500 “Champions of Growth” produced by Les Echos. .