€520M invested in 2025 (+63%): PBSA becomes Italy's top living segment for the first time, driven by one of Europe's lowest student-bed coverage rates.
Italy's student housing market closed 2025 with €520 million invested, up 63% year-on-year, according to Colliers Italia's latest PBSA Snapshot. For the first time, purpose-built student accommodation became the top living segment, representing 51% of total sector investment, with transaction count doubling from seven to fourteen in twelve months.
The figure matters against a persistent structural imbalance: Italy counts over two million enrolled students, 1.7 million attending in person, with international students growing 14% annually. National bed coverage sits at just 4.9%, against a European average of 15% — roughly 173,000 additional beds would be needed to align with continental standards. Current supply is around 85,000 beds, of which only 26,000 come from modern PBSA structures; even the full development pipeline of roughly 33,000 new beds over the next three years won't push coverage past 10% in major cities by 2028.
Foreign capital dominates the sector, with over 90% of investment coming from Eurozone and North American investors increasingly favouring Core, Forward Purchase and Forward Funding strategies. Recent deals include Ardian and Rockfield's preliminary agreement for a 427-bed project on Milan's Viale Certosa, taking their Italian portfolio to 2,000 beds, and Nido Living's forward purchase of over 600 beds in Sesto San Giovanni with a Prelios SGR-managed fund developed by Hines.
Milan remains the leading pipeline market, but interest is broadening toward second-tier university cities — Padua, Pisa, Venice, Ferrara — alongside the established hubs of Rome, Florence, Turin and Bologna. The product itself is evolving: the most competitive PBSA assets are moving away from a simple dormitory model toward genuine urban experience platforms, with shared spaces, sports facilities, co-working areas and hybrid short-stay formats.
Alongside the private segment, a parallel strand of subsidised university housing is consolidating, backed by patient capital and public-private partnerships — such as Florence's former Caserma Lupi di Toscana project, delivering 236 rent-capped units for roughly €55 million with CDP Real Asset SGR and Fondazione CR Firenze.
Overall, the sector has completed its transition from experimental bet to structural pillar of Italian living. The demand-supply gap, far from being a constraint, remains the primary driver of investor appeal — a market where volume growth reflects the gradual institutionalisation of a structurally underserved asset class rather than speculative momentum.