Ontario Student Housing Deliveries Expected to Reach Record in 2026: Report

05-Jul-2026

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Ontario is on track to deliver a record number of purpose-built student housing beds in 2026, according to a new report from Urbanation Inc., even as federal limits on international student permits reshape demand across the province.

Urbanation’s inaugural Spring Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) Report for Ontario says 6,313 student housing beds are expected to be completed in 2026, the largest annual total on record and about two and a half times the 2015–2025 annual average of 2,526 beds.

The Greater Toronto Area is expected to account for 2,734 beds this year, or 43 per cent of the provincial total, as several multi-phase projects reach occupancy.

A total of 70,450 student housing beds are under construction or proposed across the province, according to the study, roughly 2.5 times the total delivered since 2015. Of that, 10,080 beds are under construction across 25 projects, and 60,370 beds are proposed across 60 projects. PBSA accounts for 41,298 of the proposed beds, so most of the planned growth is coming from privately owned projects rather than universities. The report says deliveries are expected to slow in 2027 and 2028 as tighter financing conditions since 2024 work through the pipeline.

According to Urbanation, its survey covers 133 operating PBSA properties and 43,411 purpose-built beds across 28 submarkets and five regions in Ontario, alongside about 82,049 on-campus residence beds at 66 institutions. Waterloo/Kitchener is the most concentrated PBSA market in the province, with 66 properties.

The report suggests demand may be at a turning point. National post-secondary enrolment peaked at 2.34 million in 2023-24 and slipped to an estimated 2.30 million in 2024-25 as federal study permit limits took hold. The pullback has fallen mainly on colleges, where study permits issued dropped 73 per cent between 2023-24 and 2025-26. University permits fell 38 per cent over the same period. Ontario universities have held up better, with domestic enrolment rising 3.6 per cent in 2024-25 and largely offsetting the international decline.

Across the province, student housing supply equals 20.6 per cent of university enrolment when on-campus and PBSA beds are combined. The Western Greater Golden Horseshoe carries the highest provision rate at 31.8 per cent, while the GTA sits lowest at 11.8 per cent, where students have long relied on the secondary condo rental sector. The report notes that Provincial Bill 185, passed in 2024, streamlines planning approvals for housing on institutional land and is expected to move more on-campus supply forward, increasingly through partnerships with private developers.

The study also points to purpose-built rental near campuses as a potential source of additional student housing. Within Ontario’s 28 student submarkets, the proposed purpose-built rental pipeline totals 377,989 units, of which 238,037 are approved, against 26,344 units of identified student housing.