Walker & Dunlop is on a roll. Just last month the commercial real estate lender acquired a $3.8B HUD portfolio, making it the largest HUD loan portfolio servicer in the nation.

Now the lender has secured $672M in financing for the purchase of a student housing portfolio by a JV formed by three separate parties—a subsidiary of Scion Group, GIC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The portfolio, University House Communities Group, is one of the nation’s largest student housing portfolios.

Managing directors Brendan Coleman (below, left) and Will Baker (below, right) headed the deal, arranging financing through Fannie Mae's Credit Facility.

“This portfolio stood out to us because of the exceptional quality of the assets, coupled with the outstanding strength and experience of the partners Scion, CPPIB and GIC,” Brendan tells Bisnow. 

Will echoed those sentiments, adding there's been a rise in major institutional players entering the student housing sector.

“Student housing has become a mainstream sector with the amount of large funds and foreign capital that are searching for acquisition opportunities,” he tells us.

Student housing development is booming this year, and it’s a good time to get on board. The National Center For Education Statistics projected student enrollment to skyrocket this year, increasing the demand for student housing facilities—which look more like Class-A luxury properties every day.

Experts project 2016 student housing investments will bypass 2015, which had a strong year and saw $1.4B in transaction volume compared to the year prior—or a 176% jump, Colliers International reports.

The University House Communities portfolio includes 22 student housing developments all across the country.

“Our biggest challenge was being able to deliver one efficient financing solution that worked for 14 student housing developments in different markets across the country which were in various stages of development and lease-up cycles,” Brendan says.