In today’s apartment industry, with overburdened onsite associates facing an ever-growing array of challenges and pressures, it’s imperative that operators prioritize creating an efficient and supportive work environment for them.

That was one of the major takeaways of Entrata Industry Principal Virginia Love’s presentation Where We Stand: Trends Driving the Multifamily Industry at the 2024 Entrata Summit. 

“We’ve got to start looking at them not as just a leasing consultant or just an assistant manager or just a property manager,” she said. “They are in charge of a multimillion dollar asset. They are the only ones driving income. Without them we have absolutely no business, and we have to start thinking with them before we think about anybody else. Then we can worry about everybody else. If we don’t get the people onsite right, we’re not going to win.”

Love’s presentation was a wide-ranging and detailed look at four overarching trends currently affecting multifamily: people, efficiency, transparency and disruption. 

The Modern Associate, the Modern Renter

On the people front, today’s leasing associates are frustrated and are often fighting burnout, according to Love.

Citing a recent Swift Bunny report, she noted that 42% of multifamily associates say their compensation isn’t fair, and 31% say their workplaces are plagued by inadequate communication. Meanwhile, 29% don’t believe their employer offers a clear path for promotions, while 28% say company policies are not consistently enforced. At the same time, today’s residents can be extremely difficult and demanding, and operators often roll out new technologies without considering how they will impact leasing associates.

Add it all up, and it’s not surprising that industry estimates of onsite turnover rates range from 36% to 45%, Love said.

“Everything that you roll out, everything that you introduce, everything that you talk about—ask yourself, ‘What does this mean for the site?’” she said. “If you can’t come up with an answer, it’s probably not worth doing.”

Love also discussed today’s renters when outlining the people trend. For starters, today’s prospects do extensive online research before deciding which properties to visit. For apartment communities, this means “you have very little chance of getting them to the property if your digital footprint is not perfect,” she said. “If you offer it, advertise it. They’re scouring everything, and then they’re comparing it all.”

Today’s renters could very well ask associates about rent control, a subject that has been in the news lately in part because of the upcoming presidential election, and they are increasingly fond of self-service and often don’t want to interact with associates in the leasing office—unless their rent is being raised, Love noted.

Furthermore, many of today’s renters are “renters by choice,” and that is driving demand for apartments. Referring to Entrata’s recent New American Dream report, Love noted that “a lot of renters don’t care about owning a house. ‘I want my flexibility. I might want to move home and live with my parents for six months while I’m traveling a lot for work, then I might move to another city.’ They love that flexibility. They can afford a home—they just don’t want the hassle of a home.”

Efficiency, transparency and disruption

When it comes to efficiencies, apartment operators are using AI, automation, centralization/consolidation and self-service to streamline and optimize various processes, according to Love. Having sufficient data to strengthen processes fueled by AI and automation is especially important, she noted. 

Transparency is another major issue confronting operators. On one front, the FTC is cracking down on fake consumer reviews, meaning operators should have more incentive than ever not to encourage the writing of inauthentic, glowing reviews. Love noted that today’s renters are leery of five-star reviews anyway and cited a study that says renters believe a review score of approximately 3.8 to be more believable and trustworthy.

Apartment communities also need to be completely transparent about the fees they are charging renters, and ILSs are working on pricing calculators that prospects can use early in their search process to see exactly what it would cost to rent a particular floor plan, she added.  

Looking ahead, the apartment industry also will continue to be impacted by outside disruptors, Love predicted. Adam Neumann, the co-founder of WeWork, has entered the rental-housing space, as have Amazon and even Costco. 

“Everybody’s looking at apartments,” Love said. “Everybody.”