Harrison Street Asset Management Sells 12-Property Student Housing Portfolio for $910 Million

Disposition Spans Over 7,500 Beds Across 10 States and 12 Universities

Transaction Marks One of the Largest US Student Housing Portfolio Sales in Recent Years, Reflecting Continued Institutional Demand for Scaled, High-Quality Assets

CHICAGO, May 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Harrison Street Asset Management (“HSAM,” or the “Firm”), a leading alternative global investment management firm with $109 billion in assets under management across infrastructure, real estate and credit strategies, announced the $910 million sale of a 12-property US student housing portfolio to affiliates of The Scion Group (“Scion”) and a global institutional investment manager. The transaction is the largest student housing portfolio sale completed in 2026.

The portfolio, amassed over the past decade and spanning five HSAM fund vehicles, includes 12 properties totaling 7,578 beds across 10 states and 12 universities, including Arizona State University, Auburn University, and the University of Florida. The transaction reflects HSAM’s focus on acquiring or developing high-quality individual properties across alternative real estate sectors, enhancing operational performance, and strategically exiting via diversified portfolios that represent compelling scaling opportunities for institutional buyers.

“The transaction represents one of the largest student housing portfolio dispositions in recent years and underscores the continued depth of institutional demand for student housing exposure, driven by durable fundamentals, constrained new supply, and strong enrollment trends at leading universities,” said Christopher Merrill, Co-Founder and Global Chief Executive Officer at Harrison Street Asset Management. “Building on our decades of experience in the sector, we will continue to invest in high-quality student housing properties near leading universities, while evaluating strategic portfolio sales that deliver compelling outcomes for our investors.”

“This portfolio reflects the culmination of years of disciplined acquisition and development activity, operational enhancement and optimization by our team, and local market expertise across some of the strongest university-driven housing markets in the country,” said Ben Mohns, Global Head of Asset Management – Real Estate at Harrison Street Asset Management. “The ability to execute a transaction of this scale in today’s environment speaks to both the quality of the communities in which we’ve invested and the enduring investor appetite for institutional-grade student housing portfolios.”

Harrison Street Asset Management is an innovator in the student housing market and one of the largest private owners of student housing globally. Since inception, the firm’s alternative real assets platform has invested over $24 billion across 431 student housing properties, totaling more than 237,000 beds throughout North America and Europe. During this same period, the firm sold 252 student housing properties for a gross cost of approximately $11 billion. HSAM and Scion have completed multiple large-scale transactions together since 2017, including a nearly $900 million student housing portfolio sale in November 2024.

About Harrison Street Asset Management
Harrison Street Asset Management is a leading global alternative investment management firm with $109 billion in assets under management across real estate, infrastructure, and credit strategies. Headquartered in Chicago, Toronto, and London with over 600 employees in offices across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the firm offers innovative solutions across a variety of closed-end, open-end and specialized vehicles on behalf of over 1,200 institutional investors and over 300 Registered Investment Advisors.¹

¹ HSAM data and descriptions of HSAM’s business are generally comprised of the aggregated data and business activities of investment advisors that are owned in whole or in part by HSAM. Assets under management (“AUM”) reflects the AUM for the investment advisory and asset management clients of such investment advisors and is inclusive of the regulatory AUM of such investment advisors that is reported in their respective Form ADVs.

HSAM Media Contacts:
Shree Dhond/Doug Allen
Dukas Linden Public Relations
646-722-6530
HSAM@dlpr.com

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