Student housing: up to 50 applications for a single studio apartment

With just a few weeks to go before the start of the academic year, a survey conducted by ERA Immobilier among its agencies in Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Nantes, and Toulouse paints a picture of a saturated market: well-located studio apartments are snapped up within days, and applications are piling up. For families, the race now begins as soon as the Parcoursup results are released in June.
 

The countdown has begun for thousands of families. In a survey published in late July, the ERA Immobilier network polled its agencies in Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Nantes, and Toulouse on the state of the student rental market. The picture is clear: in both Bordeaux and Toulouse, a single studio apartment can receive up to 50 applications. In Strasbourg, every small, well-located unit attracts about 20 complete applications. In Nantes, competition remains fierce and prices remain high. Everywhere, the same trend holds true: the most sought-after apartments are snapped up within a few days—sometimes within a few hours.
 

This rush is primarily due to demographic factors. French universities will enroll 1.67 million students for the 2025–2026 academic year—a 2.6% increase from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Higher Education. In total, higher education has nearly 3 million enrolled students, and that number is expected to continue rising in the coming years. However, the housing supply is struggling to keep up, and it is the private rental market—comprising individual landlords—that plays the leading role in housing these young people. When this market shrinks, the waiting list grows longer for every studio apartment.
 

Where Have All the Studio Apartments Gone?
The supply of small units is dwindling for well-known reasons. In Bordeaux, some studio apartments have shifted from traditional rentals to short-term tourist rentals, which are more profitable for landlords. “The main challenge will be to offer more housing at reasonable prices, particularly by bringing back onto the market small units that are currently used for short-term rentals,” notes Amandine Collomb of the leasing department at ERA Grand 10 Immo.
 

In Toulouse, Yannick Jonquières, director of ERA Immobilier Jonquières & Co, points to another obstacle: “To revitalize the student housing market in Toulouse, it is essential to ease the constraints on private investors. Without their commitment, the rental supply will not be able to meet students’ growing needs in the long term. ” The mechanism is well known: when a landlord is torn between renting on an annual basis, selling, or converting the property into a furnished tourist rental, every additional restriction reduces the supply available to students.
 

As for budget, expect to pay around €470 (excluding utilities) for a 20 m² studio in Toulouse, and €600 in both Strasbourg and Nantes. In Bordeaux, rents range from €500 to €1,000 depending on the property. Unsurprisingly, rent and location top the list of search criteria, far ahead of everything else.
 

Start looking as early as possible
The timeline has shifted. The search now begins as soon as the Parcoursup results are released in June. Families who wait until the end of summer find themselves facing a market that has already been picked over, with only expensive or poorly located properties remaining. In Nantes, Pascal Di Domenico, director of ERA Immobilière de la Sèvre Nantaise, goes a step further: “The market remains tight and increasingly expensive. Students would be well advised to reserve their housing as early as April or May to give themselves the best chance of success.”
 

Another strategy: expanding the search area. In Strasbourg, where the easing of the housing market observed in 2026 remains relatively modest, Damien Oswald, director of the ERA des Malteries agency, encourages students to “start their search early and expand their search area along the tram lines.” A studio apartment fifteen minutes from campus is often less expensive and avoids the crowds of the central neighborhoods. Preparing your application before viewings is just as important: in Strasbourg, there are often as many as twenty complete applications—including guarantors and supporting documents—for every well-located furnished studio.
 

For Eric Allouche, executive director of the ERA Immobilier network, the issue extends beyond the start of the 2026 academic year: “The difficulties in accessing student housing are no longer simply a seasonal phenomenon. They reflect a lasting imbalance between rising demand and insufficient supply. ” He advocates for making it easier to bring affordable housing back onto the market and for revitalizing rental investment, which he sees as essential to the appeal of university cities. In the meantime, families have little choice: in this market, anyone who waits until September is too late.”