Thousands of first-time and returning students will go back to class this week.

With a post office, supermarket and sporting facilities, Charles Sturt University (CSU) could be a city in its own right.

But there’s a catch: the students need somewhere to live.

Paul Irvine of Professionals Wagga said he has fielded a “big portion” of housing inquiries from people related to the university over the summer months.

“People will buy up in Wagga for three reasons: it’s got a big uni, the RAAF base and the Army base,” he said.

“More than half of our inquiries in Estella and Wagga is parents looking for their children – and I would say that’s the same for the other agents too. Vacancy would be less than one per cent in Estella at the moment.”

Mr Irvine said an "increasing" number of parents are opting to invest in Wagga property for their children.

He said seven people have invested in the city’s real estate market on behalf of their children in the space of two months, with the accumulated value of that investment estimated to be more than $2 million.

“It’s a really interesting trend,” Mr Irvine said.

“I guess they are weighing up the costs of living on-campus versus buying a home as well as gauging what their kids want to do. Campus is for some and off-campus is for others.”

A spokeswoman for CSU said there were about 50 vacancies for a range of on-campus accomodation options.

There are more than 1000 students living at CSU’s Boorooma campus, the spokeswoman said.

Victoria Lee, of Sydney, is a first-year animal science student who decided to rent a property in the city.

She said she would rather live off-campus because it enabled her to have more independence as a student.

“I’m definitely really loving it here. Everyone is really friendly,” she said. 

“It’s good to get away from the hustle and bustle of campus for a while.”

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