Last modified on March 20th, 2023
By Matthew Kaddatz
According to the NMHC Quarterly Survey of Apartment Conditions, 66% of businesses say that apartment market conditions in their local markets are looser than three months ago, which means this year’s leasing season will be more competitive than ever. Between slowing rent growth, rising inflation, and new apartment construction developments entering the market, now is the time to evolve your leasing and retention strategy to make the most of demand. Read on to find out the key performance indicators (KPIs) you should be tracking and how to optimize your leasing flow to turn leads into leases faster.
While each property management business’s leasing flow may look slightly different, there are certain steps everyone should follow to successfully convert leads to leases. An optimal leasing flow — one that fills vacancies quickly — should look like this:
To further optimize your leasing flow beyond these steps, you should monitor several KPIs. KPIs are important to evaluate on a regular basis, as they help you to better understand the health of your business and how you stack up to your competitors and/or the previous year.
The first and arguably the most important KPI you should track is your leasing performance, with the goal of identifying which leasing agents are attracting the most leads and establishing the ROI of your leasing efforts. When measuring leasing performance, there are a few metrics you should keep in mind, including:
The second KPI you should track is unit turn performance, with the goal of turning each unit as quickly as possible. Unit turns can be challenging, as a lot of work goes into transitioning an apartment or single-family home from move-out to move-in ready. Some ways you can put technology to work are by using a single system that allows you to track turn tasks across units, coordinate vendors and timing, and manage turn-related documents. If you’re relying on multiple tools to manage unit turns or are still using paper-based processes, consider transitioning to a fully digital system so you can increase visibility and turn units more efficiently.
For instance, with AppFolio Property Manager, you can post recurring work orders to a unit turn, generate unit turn detail reports, check the status of unit turns across properties, and communicate with vendors right in the platform.
The final leasing KPI you should track is renewal performance, with the goal of removing friction in the renewal process. Maintaining occupancy is essential for success. It is far easier and more profitable for your residents to stay, as this avoids vacancies, expensive and time-consuming turnovers, and the need to spend money on marketing to attract new renters. Ideally, you want to make the renewal process as streamlined and easy as possible for your residents. Below are five steps you can follow to strengthen your renewal strategy.
Leasing season is always a busy time of year for your teams; however, when you leverage automated and online tools, you can optimize your workflow to turn leads into leases faster. A comprehensive leasing platform, like AppFolio, can help you and your team reduce the number of days your units are vacant. To learn more about how you can streamline your leasing operations, take a look at this guide.
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Matthew Kaddatz is the Sr. Director of Product at AppFolio Property Manager. Matthew has spent the past 15 years working in the property management industry with experiences including founding and operating a property management company, as well as building technology for property management companies. In his current role, he is responsible for ensuring AppFolio is continually building innovative tools that help property management businesses grow and become more efficient.
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