COLUMBUS – Ordinarily, at this time of the year apartments around Ohio State University’s campus would be fully rented for fall semester.
Not this year.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
OSU’s rule requiring sophomores to live on campus, which takes full effect in the fall, is causing landlords to hunt for tenants and in some cases to do the unthinkable: drop rents.
“This is the most temperamental and tumultuous time as far as off-campus real estate that I’ve ever seen,” said Brian Grim, owner of University Manors, which manages 550 campus-area rentals.
Reporter Jim Weiker discusses his story on “Perspective”
Starting in the fall, all Ohio State sophomores — projected at 5,800 to 6,000 students — must live on campus. Traditionally, half of those, or about 3,000, would have moved off campus.
That translates to 17 to 19 percent of the 16,000 to 18,000 Ohio State students estimated to live off campus in the University District.
As a result, hundreds of campus-area homes, duplexes and apartments remain listed for fall rental on the real-estate website Zillow. Signs advertising fall leases line Summit Street, 4th Street, Chittenden Avenue and other campus-area strips.
And with final exams ending Tuesday, landlords are making last-minute pitches to get students to sign fall leases before they leave campus.