developers report momentum in off-campus student housing in metro vancouver
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mosaic is developing a 458-bed student housing project in burnaby mountain in partnership with harrison street asset management.
harrison street asset management
more developers in metro vancouver seeking to build student-oriented residential buildings that are off-campus and not necessarily affiliated with a particular school.
because such projects don’t fall neatly into residential or institutional categories, developers often have to ask municipalities to amend zoning bylaws to allow for dormitory-style units that are smaller than what current bylaws allow — with mixed success.
the largest developer of purpose-built, student housing in canada has spent the last year and a half working with the city of burnaby on a rezoning application to turn a land assembly of 16 single-family lots into a massive student housing project near simon fraser university.
toronto-based forum asset management has a city-block-sized site on rathburn drive at the bottom of burnaby mountain near the skytrain millennium line.
however, city council voted on oct. 28 against authorizing city staff to continue working with forum on preparation of a development plan.
mayor mike hurley said there were a number of reasons.
“the site is in a very ecologically sensitive area and we have had a lot of success getting salmon to return to that creek,” he said. “there have been some issues with developments upstream that have killed salmon so we need to look at these issues.
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“council was also not convinced that the proponent’s connection to sfu was solid and there was some concern it might be too big for the surrounding area. we fully support student housing and need it, but need to be careful about the area.”
hurley added there was some debate about the small size of the units and whether they would only be available for students.
forum had submitted an initial rezoning application to build four buildings with about 1,405 units in a range of sizes. the proposal called for 950 student residential units — from “micro” units of 215 square feet to three-bedroom units of 904 square feet.
forum asset managment is seeking to build 1,405 units across four buildings in burnaby aimed primarily at students.
a staff report provided to council ahead of the meeting noted that “many of the proposed student rental units would not meet minimum unit size requirements” under the existing zoning bylaw for rental apartment units, which is why the application seeks a “proposed variance to minimum unit size requirements.”
the bylaw currently allows for studio units of 322 square feet and three-bedroom units of 861 square feet.
under forum’s proposal, the remaining 450 rental units wouldn’t be restricted to students and would be made available to the public. these would meet the minimum size allowed for apartment units.
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council’s refusal shows a specific policy for student housing is needed in lower mainland municipalities, said aly damji, managing partner and lead of the real estate business at forum asset management.
as the company and city staff discuss next steps, he remains undeterred.
“the trend is now gaining momentum in the lower mainland as rising rents and limited on-campus options leave students underserved,” said damji in an email. and on-campus housing is often reserved for first year students.
in early 2025, forum became the largest owner of purpose-built student housing in canada when it bought alignvest student housing, a real estate investment fund that owned and managed more than 7,150 student bedrooms in 17 properties, mostly in eastern canada.
forum paid $1.7 billion for alignvest and, a month later, brookfield asset management, which has a us$7 billion global portfolio of student accommodations, provided $100 million to support this purchase.
forum also recently applied to the district of north vancouver to redevelop a site that is close to capilano university with 485 student housing units in a 24-storey building.
“over the last three to four years, we’ve seen institutional and large private capital increasingly target the off-campus student housing market in metro vancouver, mirroring what happened in the u.s. and europe a decade ago,” said jason mah at avison young, who has worked on several deals for global education city, a vancouver-based company that has converted condo buildings into student housing and has 1,300 beds across metro vancouver.
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more recently, it announced it will develop a 49-storey tower near sfu’s surrey campus and kwantlen polytechnic university with the pure group of companies, which invests in canadian real estate.
mah said that since student housing isn’t purely residential nor institutional, it falls into a grey area when it comes to municipal zoning policy. it can also sometimes be more complex to finance as some lenders haven’t adapted their underwriting for this kind of property.
despite this, he thinks purpose-built student housing will evolve over the next five years from being a specialty product to one that is part of the metro rental landscape.
“we are seeing a reallocation of funds towards student-oriented developments that were once earmarked for multi-family or purpose-built rental because student housing offers higher rent per square foot, year-round occupancy stability and the ability to align with … (needs related to) education, community housing and youth access,” said mah.
another large investment firm, harrison street asset management, which has head offices in chicago and london, england, and manages about us$100 billion in assets, recently announced it had invested in a 458-bed student housing project near the sfu campus on burnaby mountain.
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residential developer mosaic had originally planned a condo building for the site, but it will now be converted into rental housing for students. completion is expected in 2028.
harrison had earlier bought another 283-bed student housing project near sfu, which will be finished in 2026.
the city of vancouver is considering a rezoning application for a site on main street in mount pleasant that used to be the home of a royal bank of canada branch and for years has been the two-storey home of the goh ballet academy.
the academy has partnered with developer westbank and is proposing a 25-storey building that would have 315 dormitory-like student-housing units, each with a private bathroom and kitchenette. some would be as small as 253 square feet.
rendering of application for rezoning of 2345-2349 main st.
about 85 per cent of goh ballet students are from metro vancouver and the remaining 15 per cent come from outside canada. around 10 units on the first floor of the student residence would be allotted for use by goh ballet students, teachers and choreographers, while the remaining ones above would be available for other post-secondary students at market rates.
“much of the general demand for market rental housing in metro vancouver is spurred by students and many goh ballet students require local accommodation while they study,” said chan hon goh, general and artistic director of the academy. “the vancouver housing market makes this very challenging for many and, as a result, students are forced to rent off-campus, adding pressure to the general rental market.”
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