Flussi studenteschi e mercato immobiliare: il caso dell’Università di Padova

Is there a relationship between the presence of students and the average real estate value in a city? This work aims at answering this question through an empirical analysis based on merging data on yearly flows of students enrolled at the University of Padua with data provided by the Real Estate Observatory of the Italian Tax Agency. The econometric estimates show that, once controlled for the local availability of amenities and urban transport facilities, the areas with a larger presence of students are also characterized by higher average real estate values, but only for private houses and not for commercial activities. The presence of students, instead, is significantly correlated with higher average rents both for private housing and for commercial activities.