Apartment TurnoverApartment turnover: what every move-out costs.

What apartment turnover means

Turnover counts move-outs. Each one starts a chain of work and lost income: a make-ready, marketing, showings, screening and, often, days or weeks of vacancy.

Lower turnover usually means steadier income and lower costs, which is why resident retention is a focus for good managers.

The turnover rate formula

Turnover rate = move-outs in a year / total units

Count move-outs, not lease expirations: a resident who renews is not a turn. Transfers between units in the same community are usually counted separately.

A worked apartment turnover example

Illustrative figures, not from a real property

A 100-unit building has 40 move-outs in a year, a turnover rate of 40 percent. Each turn costs about $1,000 of make-ready work, $300 of marketing and leasing time and three weeks of lost rent at $1,500 a month, about $1,050. That is roughly $2,350 per turn, or $94,000 a year.

Cutting move-outs to 32 saves about $18,800 a year, before counting the value of keeping residents who pay on time.

How to lower turnover

Strong service, quick maintenance, fair renewals and a good community help residents stay. Renewal pricing is a balance: closing all of a unit's loss to lease at once can cost more in turnover than it gains.

Turnover also moves the occupancy rate through the year. Our articles on resident retention strategies and apartment lease renewal cover what works.

Turnover in the numbers

Turnover shows up in several places at once: higher repair and marketing costs on the operating statement, lower physical occupancy between residents, and often more rent concessions to fill units quickly. Track it by month as well as by year, since move-outs bunch up in some seasons.

Recording the reasons residents give when they leave helps separate turnover you can prevent, such as slow maintenance, from turnover you cannot, such as a job in another city.