Next year, an estimated 29,000 students will fill the lecture theatres, laboratories and classrooms at the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic. Where will they all live?
Slowly but surely, the "flat taken 2009" signs are appearing in North Dunedin windows and the waiting lists for places in residential colleges are growing.
As one academic year rapidly draws to a close, Dunedin students are already thinking about where they will lay their heads during the next.
Whether their preference is for a room in a college, a flat or a studio apartment, it is clear they are becoming more discerning about their living quarters and are prepared to pay more to get what they want.
An address close to the campuses is not the only criterion - insulated walls, carpeted floors, heat pumps, car parks or garaging and dishwashers feature prominently on wish lists, property manager at www.studentaccommodation.co.nz, Amanda Beaumont, says.
"When I was a student, we were quite comfortable to sit with our duvets on and the oven door open keep warm. Today's students ask about heating systems, hot water cylinders, insulation and whether flats are moisture-prone. They are a lot more savvy."
Students are also more inclined to search the Internet before deciding which flats to visit, Miss Beaumount says.
The company she manages was established two years ago to meet that need.
Landlords pay a flat fee to advertise their properties for up to six months, while students can also advertise for flatmates. The company does not match up tenants and landlords, leaving that to website users.
"This is the way of the future. Students can have a look at what is available from wherever they are, even if it is overseas, without having to pound the pavements," Miss Beaumount says.
More students seeking accommodation than there used to be.
The combined student roll of the University of Otago (which now includes the Dunedin College of Education) and Otago Polytechnic has increased by almost 50% over the past 12 years, from 20,000 students to 29,000.
An estimated 80% of university students and 5% of polytechnic students come from outside Dunedin.
While some own their own properties or still live at home, calculations are at least 17,000 students are living either at residential colleges or in rental accommodation.
It is difficult to precisely calculate students' economic impact on Dunedin, but it is undoubtedly enormous.
Using figures gathered last year in a New Zealand University Students Association student expenditure survey as a guide, their spending on mortgages, rents and accommodation alone is estimated at more than $150 million a year, with that figure doubling once direct spending on other living expenses such as food, electricity, insurances, clothing, textbooks, travel and transport and consumer items is added.
Then there are the downstream benefits to all the businesses and jobs which have sprung up or added staff to cater for students' needs - supermarkets, retail outlets, bars, cafes, service and accommodation providers and the university itself.
North Dunedin's rental stock has burgeoned to meet the increasing demand.
About 300 beds have been added to the city's residential colleges (formerly called halls of residence) over the past three years, bringing the number of beds available to 3200 in 15 colleges.
Many multi-unit complexes have also been built or expanded and residential sections have been redeveloped to maximum density.
A more recent developments has been the arrival of studio apartments - large bed-sitting rooms about the size of a motel room which have sprung up inside everything from converted inner-city buildings and large houses to modern complexes.
Favoured by international and older students, the rooms generally come with their own ensuites, kichenettes and Internet connections and the often hefty weekly rental includes electricity and cleaning of the communal areas.
Real estate agent Barclay Sievwright, of Edinburgh Realty, who has 21 student rental properties of his own and who has specialised in university investment properties for the past eight years, says studio rooms are favoured by students who do not want to be tied to a group lease with four or five other people.
"Ideally, these students want a one-bedroom flat, but it is not economic for landlords to provide those, so studio rooms are the next best thing.
"Most students are here to study. They want their privacy and stick pretty much to their own rooms even though there are communal facilities. Sometimes they will cook a meal together, but that doesn't seem to happen often."
The flurry of building activity over the past decade is tailing off, Mr Sievwright says, mainly because North Dunedin is running out of land suitable for redevelopment.
A new capped government funding regime introduced at the beginning of this year means growth is expected to slow at both the university and polytechnic for the foreseeable future.
The university is Dunedin's largest accommodation provider, owning (or co-owing) and operating nine residential colleges and owning or leasing 130 rental properties.
University accommodation manager James Lindsay says there are no plans to build or acquire any more residential colleges at present.
The flat are generally kept for overseas students, many of whom study here for a single half-year semester.
The flats have a New Zealand student "host" living on site (at reduced rent) to provide friendship and assistance to the newcomers.
Incoming students could take a 26-week lease in a university flat without the hassle of trying to find flatmates or organise bonds and telephone and power accounts, Mr Lindsay says.
"If you are a student coming here mid-way through the year, it is almost impossible to find a flat with a short-term lease. That's why we try and help them out."
Mr Lindsay is referring to a Dunedin rental peculiarity - the 12-month leases which are a boon to landlords and a bugbear for students.
Even though most students arrive in February and leave again by late October or early November, most landlords insist on tenancies which run from January 1 to December 31.
Because they want to secure a flat well ahead of time - and because they have little option - most students agree to 12-month tenancies and resign themselves to forking out 11 or 12 weeks' rent for a flat they are not occupying.
The Otago University Students Association has been trying without success to reduce or stamp out 12-month tenancies.
But students often do not help themselves by signing up for flats too soon, OUSA president Simon Wilson says.
"Signing up early creates a demand and gives landlords a chance to fill flats at increased rents. If students do not sign up so soon, landlords might reduce the rent or offer other incentives [such as a month rent-free or a period of reduced rental] to secure tenants."
A full 12-month tenancy also does not allow landlords any time to work on flats in December or January he says.
The OUSA had fielded complaints in the past from students who had moved into flats in the first week of January, only to find they were uninhabitable because repairs or renovations were still under way.
In past years, the OUSA has run an overt "Stop the Sign Up" advertising campaign.
This year, it adopted a more targeted approach, giving flat education talks at residential colleges to try and stop flat assigners "spreading like wildfire".
"Flat assigners spread quickly through a hall. One group of friends sign up, then another, then a whole floor, " Mr Wilson says.
While it was true the best flats went early, Mr Wilson says students prepared to be more flexible could save themselves dollars by waiting until later in the year, or even until the start of the following year, to sign up.
However, Mr Sievwright said shorter leases was "a battle OUSA would never win".
"They won't win when there is an oversupply of students and an undersupply of rooms."
What they pay
Average weekly student accommodation costs
Auckland: $126
Hamilton: $124
Palmerston North: $112
Wellington: $129
Christchurch: $115
Dunedin: $114
Source: New Zealand University Students Association student expenditure survey, October 2007
