By Marlene Bergsma, St.Catharines Standard

St. Catharines Coun. Joe Kushner - university professor and bar co-owner - has a real estate tip for you.

Don’t dabble in student housing.

“There is a large glut of student housing in south St. Catharines,” said the St. Andrew’s councillor at Monday night’s city council meeting, reporting on a recent meeting of the Brock University student housing liaison committee.

The number of vacant student houses continues to climb, agreed Brad Clarke, off-campus housing officer for Brock.

Over the past five years, the number of accommodation listings still posted in August - when only the last-minute students are still searching for digs - has gone up, Clarke said.

“There is a significant inventory of housing being made available, and the oversupply in the system is consistent, if not increasing for the past four or five years,” Clarke said.

But Kushner said that’s not stopping people from thinking that being a landlord can be lucrative.

“People continue to purchase houses and to convert them to student housing,” he told councillors. “Doing so, they are very foolish.”

There are 105 listings posted on the Brock off-campus housing website, but they don’t tell the whole story. Viewing the property descriptions reveals that the 105 listings represent space for almost 220 students.

Add to that the roughly 40 more listings for housemates needed or sublets available, and there are at least 260 vacant spaces.

In contrast, only three students are listed as needing accommodations, and Clarke said once September arrives, many landlords give up advertising.

Clarke said landlords will try to rent to other tenants groups, or use word of mouth among their existing tenants to fill vacancies, but a surplus market always means it’s the good landlords - “who provide high-quality accommodations and attentive service” - who have more success.

“We get calls from landlords who are concerned,” Clarke said, “but the reality is there are more accommodations available for students than there are students.”

Kushner said he heard of one investor, who bought three houses to convert to student residences, who is now facing financial difficulties because the houses aren’t filled.

“It’s definitely not a slam-dunk as an investment opportunity,” Clarke said. “It is not a guarantee.”

South St. Catharines residents have complained for years about the impact of student housing on their neighbourhoods, saying poor property standards and rowdy behaviour have had a negative impact on their property values and quality of life.

Last week, Brock University president Jack Lightstone said the university will consider modifying its student code of conduct to include students’ behaviour when they are off-campus, a decision that earned the approval of St. Catharines council.