As class sizes continue to increase at the University of Iowa, so do the challenges of finding affordable housing. This year the UI welcomed its second-largest class in its 177-year history.
Iowa City has a student-driven housing market due to its proximity to the university. The downtown housing market has remained relatively strong, showing a similar rate of leases in the last decade, according to the Iowa City Area Association of Realtors.
The association shows, as of October 2025, there are approximately 672 available rentals in Iowa City. But the same forces sustaining property values are also driving up rents and competition for off-campus housing, as well as property owners’ bottom lines, Brad Comer, Iowa City assessor, said…