2023 Spring Leasing Preview
Press Release
by Michael Miller, Managing Editor | NAA
Inflation and rent growth have cooled slightly, but the demand for renting quality apartments has not. Here are some leasing trends multifamily executives have seen—some new, some already well-established.
The first quarter of 2023 is nearly closed, and the rental housing industry is ready for another spring leasing season. From year to year, there are some changes and some items that remain the same in the leasing realm.
It’s expected that new trends emerge every year—whether they move from fad to trend to industry mainstay remains to be seen with some. These trends include new leasing techniques as well as new in-home options—think work-from-home (WFH) spaces—and requests from residents.
Technology has been implemented at a heated pace since the pandemic began three years ago. Some of this tech was glue holding processes together during the most difficult times. Other technology expanded and enhanced experiences that prospective residents were looking for in a community.
Here’s some of what the rental housing industry can expect this spring leasing season.
Trends
Some of the trends witnessed in the industry are unrelated to residents. Those focus on rental housing staff. “New trends include moving toward a Monday through Friday workweek, ultimately helping us attract candidates to our industry. While self-guided tours and AI experience technologies can now assist prospects on the weekends,” says Sherry Freitas, Executive Managing Director of Property Management with RangeWater.
Build-to-Rent
The de facto middle ground between apartment renting and homeownership is not as simple as it looks.
Sherry Freitas, Executive Managing Director of Property Management with RangeWater
We have a large build-to-rent platform of 20,000 homes. We use economies-
of-scale when and where appropriate in the build-to-rent space, but we never sacrifice service and experience. We partner with multifamily advertisers who have adapted their platform to accommodate single-families while layering traditional for-sale platforms has proven effective. This allows us to cast a wider net and capture prospects who may be looking to rent an apartment or buy a home, providing them with the best of both worlds.
Challenges? The smaller staff initially caused concern about how we would maintain our service standards and personal touch; however, technology has allowed us to streamline once-manual tasks and introduce centralization.
Resident Retention
Sherry Freitas, Executive Managing Director of Property Management with RangeWater
There are several factors that drive resident retention, the top two being excellent customer service and maintenance services.