Drivers for Off-Campus Students Housing Demand in Malaysia

Abstract

Many studies have acknowledged that higher education institutions are growing globally; this may not be unconnected to the continuous increase in the population and higher education demand, which spurred up enrollment. It is evident, clear that HEIs are experiencing consistency growth in students' populations yearly. This paper aims to highlight student housing demand in off-campus living to identify demand drivers. The paper explored qualitative research methodology in data collection and analysis. Three universities (two public and one private) are used as data sources to represent higher education institutions in Malaysia for student housing demand investigation. Personal interview was conducted, and the transcripts were carefully coded according to themes in their respective NVivo nodes. Higher education institutions' student enrollment has been increasing, and student population outrun the available student housing, thereby creating significant off-campus housing demand. Despite the increase in students' enrollment, housing provision does not correspond with enrollment, making student population growth, consistently running ahead of the public higher education institutions students' housing facilities. This is due to the recessionary economic situation and higher demand for higher education; hence, education is a way forward. This necessitated ever-increasing demand for off-campus students housing in private housing rental market.