Universities, student rooms: Milan confirms itself as the most sought-after city in 2025

Milan is confirmed as the most sought-after city for university student rentals. This is what emerges from research by the student rental platform HousingAnywhere, which analysed the trend of searches in Italy's main university cities, highlighting how in 2025 student preferences show signs of progressive diversification compared to the previous year. In a context in which academic mobility continues to represent a central lever for personal and professional growth, the choice of city is confirmed as an increasingly strategic and central decision for one's future.

In 2025 Milan remains the most sought-after city, accounting for 24.6% of young people who used HousingAnywhere to look for a room among the top ten Italian university destinations. Although registering a slight decrease compared to 26.6% in 2024, the Lombard capital maintains a central role thanks to its academic offer and the professional opportunities it continues to guarantee. Rome follows with 19.6% - also slightly down from 20.9% the previous year - while Florence remains stable at 13.2%, confirming its position as one of the most popular destinations. Overall, there is a gradual redistribution of searches throughout the Peninsula.

In Northern Italia, the largest share of overall demand is concentrated in Milan, Bologna and Turin, which continue to represent the main poles of reference: Bologna goes from 7.9% to 8.3%, Turin from 8.8% to 9.1% and Padua from 6.8% to 7.0%, while Venice registers a slight decrease, dropping from 1.7% to 1.5%. In the Centre, Rome and Florence maintain a solid position, with Florence stable at 13.2%.
In the South, Naples consolidates its growth trend, going from 1.7% in 2024 to 1.8% in 2025. These dynamics point to an evolving student mobility market, in which attractiveness is no longer determined solely by the size of the city, but by a broader set of factors linked to the economic, social and housing context.

On the room price front, an analysis of the advertisements published between October and December 2025, compared with the same period in 2024, shows a complex picture. Milan is confirmed as the city with the highest average rent, at 664 euros per month, although it shows a slight decrease on an annual basis. Bologna follows at 660, but is the city that shows the most marked decrease (-6.4%), while Rome reaches €650 and stands out for one of the most significant increases (+4.8%).
Naples also shows significant growth, with an average rent of €470 (+4.4%), making it the city in the Centre-South with the most significant year-on-year increase. In an intermediate band is Florence, with 600 euros per month (-3.2%), while Turin remains stable at 530. Padua fell to 528 (-4.1%) and Pisa confirmed its position among the most affordable cities, with an average of 400 euros per month (-3.6%).
All in all, the trend in rents in the fourth quarter returns the image of a market in a settling phase, characterised by still marked territorial differences and non-uniform variations among the various university cities.