The impact of studentification on the residential real estate market. Analysis of external factors and dynamics of the phenomenon generated by the university campus of Potenza (Italy)

The location of a university campus can generate a virtuous circle of economic effects on the territory, often not limited to the nearby neighborhoods. A frequent phenomenon associated with the construction of a University and which is widely studied in the scientific reference literature, is represented by studentification, namely, the process through which specific residential neighborhoods become dominated by student occupation. Even if studentification often produces beneficial effects on the dynamics of the local real estate market, it may happen that, when the starting point already has consolidated dynamics, the replacement of residents in neighborhoods close to the University with the new social class of students, can determine negative impacts in terms of urban segregation and reduction of real estate values. This research analyzes the effects of studentification on the real estate market when the University is located within a city already equipped with services for residents. The analysis is carried out on the city of Potenza (Southern Italy), by comparing the outputs obtained from a survey with those generated by the implementation of a Geographically Weighted Regression. The results highlight the importance to appropriately assess the economic spillovers that can be determined by new infrastructure investments on the urban territories.