Resident Retention and Renewals

Resident retention, the share of residents who sign again at the end of a lease instead of moving out, is one practical test of the resident first approach to operations that Richard Joseph Spinelli’s company, Sandhills Real Estate, follows. In apartment management the word renewal covers the decision and the new lease that records it. Tenant retention means the same thing seen across a whole building or portfolio: the percentage of expiring leases that renew over a period. Industry surveys of renters and managers now pair the reasons people stay with the reasons they leave, and the same few items appear on both sides. Maintenance sits near the top of each.¹

How retention is measured

Retention is usually stated as a rate. The National Multifamily Housing Council, in its 2023 study of customer technology, cited an average resident retention rate of roughly 52 percent for multifamily companies in 2022, a figure it drew from another study.² A 2025 survey summarized by the National Apartment Association put the average retention goal of multifamily companies at 63 percent, with nearly 30 percent of companies aiming to keep 70 percent or more of their residents.³ Residents’ own intentions are tracked as well. In the 2024 edition of an annual report produced for Zego, a software company serving landlords, 59 percent of residents said they planned to renew within the next year, the highest share since the report began in 2021, and 75 percent of property managers expected retention to improve.¹

Reasons to leave: price

Price leads the renter lists. Renters in the 2025 survey named a lease they considered too expensive as their first reason for not renewing.³ Managers understood this one: the report said operators recognized that price sensitivity was a main concern. Price is also the reason an operator can do least about in the short term, which makes the remaining items on the list more important, since those are the ones a building team controls.

Reasons to leave and to stay: maintenance

Maintenance appears on both sides of the ledger. Renters ranked poor maintenance response second among their reasons for not renewing in 2025, and maintenance and repairs first among the most important parts of apartment living.³ In the 2024 report, residents looking for a new home put maintenance at the top of their priorities, cited by 47 percent.¹ Operators speaking at a 2014 Multifamily Executive conference said the renewal process begins on the day a new resident moves in, starting with a unit that is ready on arrival, and described a strong maintenance response team as a key to getting residents to stay.⁴ One executive noted that a work order inside a home, though unwelcome, gives the team a chance to exceed what the resident expects. Speed on those requests is examined in Maintenance Requests and Response Time.

Safety and upkeep

Security is the third paired item. Renters in 2025 named security issues as their third reason for not renewing, and community security as the second most important aspect of apartment living; community appearance and cleanliness came third.³ Residents in the 2024 report sought security almost as often as maintenance, at 46 percent, with community appearance at 34 percent.¹ Upkeep links the two lists. The 2014 panel pointed out that routine preventive work, such as changing smoke detectors and filters, puts the maintenance team inside residents’ homes on good terms rather than only when something has failed.⁴ That kind of scheduled work is the subject of Preventive Maintenance in Rentals.

Communication

Communication from the property manager also appeared among residents’ top reasons for leaving in the 2024 report, alongside price, safety and poor maintenance.¹ The same report found gaps in what each side believed was on offer. Among property managers, 71 percent said they offered a payment installment plan, while 65 percent of residents said flexible payment options were not available to them; 55 percent of managers said residents could choose their own due date, but only 11 percent of residents reported the same. Whatever the cause, a policy residents do not know about cannot keep them. Market conditions have also held residents in place: Bisnow reported in May 2025 that while about half of apartment renters historically declined to renew, the share at major landlords had fallen to between 30 and 35 percent in early 2025, as high home prices kept many from buying.⁵

Where managers and renters disagree

The sharpest finding in these surveys is the gap between the two groups. In 2024, managers listed life changes, a more desirable location or community, and buying a home as the main reasons residents moved, all factors outside their control; residents listed reasons a manager can control.¹ The 2025 survey repeated the pattern. Operators ranked a technology enabled lifestyle as the most important thing to renters and believed amenities and community features mattered a great deal, while renters placed those near the bottom of their lists and put maintenance, safety and upkeep at the top.³ The report concluded that renters want fair pricing, timely maintenance and safe communities, and that each of these basics lies with the people who run the building. The broader set of resident priorities is laid out in Resident Experience in Rental Housing.

Building a retention program

A tenant retention program is the set of practices an operator uses to raise the share of residents who renew. The survey findings suggest what such a strategy contains. It starts at move in, with a ready unit and a first impression that holds. It treats repair requests as the main contact between resident and operator, measures how fast they are closed, and adds scheduled preventive visits. It keeps the building secure, clean and in good repair. It tells residents plainly what options and policies exist. The 2014 panel described one operator ranking maintenance teams against each other on service response and completion of work orders, a way of making the work visible.⁴

Renewals online and on the school calendar

The renewal itself is increasingly handled online. The council’s 2023 study found that 42 percent of surveyed companies used self service renewals, and it cited survey data showing that half of renters preferred an online only renewal process.² Companies responding to that survey said renewals would get more of their attention over the following 12 to 18 months. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies reported in February 2026 that the lease renewal rate in large multifamily buildings rose from 60.5 percent in 2023 to 62.0 percent in 2024, one reason renter mobility stayed flat.⁶

Student housing shifts the pattern in one respect. Many leases follow the school year, and groups of friends often decide together whether to stay, so a renewal can turn on one resident’s plans as much as on the building; lease terms tied to the calendar are covered in Twelve Month and Academic Year Leases. Bisnow reported in 2017 that student operators begin their renewal campaigns with move in day itself, on the view that residents who arrive to a clean, well kept apartment are more likely to renew.⁷ The underlying reasons to stay are the same. Residents who get prompt repairs, feel safe and hear clearly from their manager are more likely to sign again, and the public record of how they feel shows up next in Online Reviews of Rental Housing.