New research uncovers multifamily industry benchmarks and expert insights to inform your budget decisions

We’re here to decode the complexities of maximizing your property’s marketing spend. In the new 2024 budget season report, multifamily professionals shared factors that impact their marketing budgets the most, the target metrics they track, and how they invest in each channel. You can access the full report here to explore data on what your industry peers are spending and help streamline your team’s budget plan this year. Here are the highlights:  

Ready, set, budget: When everyone starts planning

Annual budget planning happens quickly as peak leasing season comes to a close–typically within a condensed period of less than four months.

Top three factors multifamily pros consider when planning their budgets

Occupancy rates are important, but there's more to the story! Overall, multifamily professionals factor in location, direct competition, and owner influence in their planning process.  

• Location: Tailoring marketing strategies based on whether the surrounding area includes new homes or retail centers and has specific traffic patterns
• Direct competition: Identifying other communities in the area and what specific marketing tactics they are using
• Owner influence: Building a game plan that meets the building owner’s specific goals or financial milestones

Average cost-per-door spending trends

Cost-per-door is a valuable metric for teams that are planning a marketing budget across an entire portfolio. This number can vary greatly depending on current and projected occupancy, property class, building size, geography, and ownership influence.

For stabilized and lease-up communities, the majority of companies had an annual cost-per-door digital marketing budget within the $200-500 range. The study sheds light on specific cost-per-door targets and how this differed between stabilized and lease-up communities.

Trends in target cost-per-lead and cost-per-lease

While cost-per-door provides a broad overview of marketing spending, cost-per-lead, and cost-per-lease are more granular metrics that measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts in generating leads and converting them into leases. Both cost-per-lead and cost-per-lease can be influenced by various factors, including:

• Marketing channel effectiveness: Some channels may be more effective than others in generating high-quality leads
• Lead quality: The quality of leads can impact conversion rates. High-quality leads are more likely to convert into leases
• Marketing efficiency: The effectiveness of marketing efforts in converting leads into leases can also impact cost-per-lease

By tracking these metrics, multifamily professionals can identify the most effective marketing channels, optimize their strategies, and allocate resources to channels that deliver the best return on investment.

Property class, building size, and market size were shown to significantly impact a company’s cost-per-lead. More than half of multifamily professionals shared similar cost-per-lead targets. Companies that had a target cost-per-lead of $10 or less were most prevalent in rural communities and small communities and had building sizes of less than 50 units.

82% of companies shared a similar cost-per-lease target. While property class, building size, and market did influence target cost-per-lease, targets were much more consistent across the board. Around 80% of small and mid-sized properties had a target cost-per-lease of under $450.

Top marketing channels used and how monthly spend varies by channel

The top marketing channels used were ILS (Internet Listing Sites), email marketing, digital display, paid social, and paid search. The majority of companies spend more on ILS and paid search than other top marketing channels used. They spent similar amounts per month on paid social, email marketing, and digital display.

‍

Get full data on how multifamily teams nationwide plan to spend this year

We’ve mapped out your research-backed way to a better budget season. Download the 2024 Budget Season Report for details on the average cost-per-door spent on digital marketing, and common targets for average cost-per-lead and cost-per-lease.