A compiled reference of 33 verified statistics on what apartment turnover costs, from the headline cost of a full turn, to the make-ready line items inside it (paint, flooring, cleaning, appliances), to the turnover and retention rates that decide how often you pay it, to the vacancy days, rent-increase tipping points, and concession spending that drive the total up. Every figure is drawn from a named public source (Zego, the National Apartment Association, RealPage, Zillow, and others) and independently checked before publishing.
Key statistics
6 highlights from this report
Key statistics
Key takeaways
Turning an apartment unit costs about as much as a month and a half of rent, and nearly half the portfolio pays it every year. The average turn runs $3,872, 43% of units turn annually, and the unit sits empty more than a month while the meter runs on lost rent, concessions, and make-ready labor.
The average apartment turnover costs $3,872 per unit.
43% of multifamily units turn over every year.
Units sit vacant 34.4 days between residents on average.
39.8% of US rental listings now offer a concession.
Renters start rethinking renewal at an 8% rent increase.
A 3-point retention slip costs a 5,000-unit portfolio $600,000 a year.
How we built this report
Every figure was compiled in August 2026 from named public sources: multifamily industry surveys, market analytics publishers, trade association research, and vendor benchmark guides, each checked against the original before publishing.
- Compiled from primary sources
Industry survey reports (Zego, the National Apartment Association), market analytics (RealPage, Zillow), trade press reporting on named datasets, and published make-ready benchmark guides.
- Only explicitly stated figures
We include only numbers a named source states directly, and attribute each one inline at the point it appears. The two figures we computed ourselves are labeled as RapidEye Research calculations, with the inputs named.
- Disagreements shown, not averaged
Where sources give different numbers, such as the NAA's older $1,800 average against Zego's $3,872, we show both with their years rather than blending them into a false single figure.
- Independent review
Written by one co-founder, reviewed by the other before publishing.
Scope caveat: these are survey averages, self-reported figures, and published benchmark ranges, not an audited accounting of any one portfolio. Turn costs swing widely with unit size, finish level, resident tenure, and market. Individual figures should be confirmed against the named source before being used in underwriting.
Apartment turnover costs, by the numbers
All 33 figures, grouped by theme: the cost of a full turn, the line items inside it, the rates that determine how often units turn, and the market forces driving the total up. Each is from a named public source and independently verified.
What a full turn costs
The most-cited figure in the industry comes from Zego (gozego.com), the property management fintech whose annual Resident Experience Management Report surveys large multifamily operators: its poll of 630 property managers at communities of 250 or more units put the average turnover cost at $3,872 per unit, a figure first reported by Multifamily Dive (multifamilydive.com), and Zego's continuing research keeps the round number at approximately $4,000 per turn, counting unit repairs, marketing, lost rent, and concessions. According to the National Apartment Association's turnover cost analysis (naahq.org), a single move-out runs $1,000 to $5,000 depending on upgrades. At the small-landlord end, Belong (belonghome.com), the single-family rental management company, quotes the same $1,000 to $5,000 band for individual rental homeowners, with lost rental income as the single biggest expense.
Statistic 1
The average apartment turnover costs $3,872 per unit, in a survey of 630 property managers at communities of 250+ units.
Zego dataset, reported by Multifamily Dive
Statistic 2
Zego's continuing research puts a single instance of turnover at approximately $4,000 per turn, including unit repairs, marketing, lost rent, and concessions.
Zego (2024, 2026 reports)
Statistic 3
A single move-out can cost $1,000 to $5,000 depending on how much upgrading the unit needs.
National Apartment Association (2016)
Statistic 4
A 225-unit community at 40% annual turnover carries roughly $162,000 in yearly turnover expense; cutting one move-out per month saves over $20,000 and returns 96 hours to the maintenance schedule.
National Apartment Association (2016)
Statistic 5
Make-ready benchmarks tier the work: a light turn runs $1,500 to $3,000, a standard turn $3,000 to $5,000, and a heavy turn $8,000 to $12,000 or more.
Lula make-ready benchmarks (2026)
Statistic 6
For individual rental homeowners, a tenant turnover runs $1,000 to $5,000, and the biggest expense is the loss of rental income during vacancy.
Belong (2023)
Statistic 7
Property manager lease-up fees for placing a new tenant run 50% to 100% of one month's rent, against lease renewal fees of roughly $100 to $500.
Belong (2023)
What this means: the range is wide because "turnover cost" hides two different bills: a light repaint-and-clean, and a full renovation-grade turn. But even the conservative averages put one turn at more than a typical month of rent, before counting the staff hours it consumes.
Anatomy of a turn: the line items
According to Lula's make-ready benchmarks (lula.life), the maintenance platform's 2026 cost guide, the physical work breaks down into a handful of line items with very different swing: cleaning is the most predictable at $150 to $400, while flooring is the single biggest swing line at $150 for a patch-and-clean to $8,000 or more for full replacement. Lost rent sits on top of all of it: at the January 2025 national average effective rent of $1,818 reported by RealPage (realpage.com), the market analytics firm, every vacant day costs roughly $60, which is how an average 34.4-day vacancy quietly becomes the largest single line in the turn.
Line-item ranges from Lula's 2026 make-ready benchmarks. Lost rent computed by RapidEye Research from RealPage's average vacant days (34.4) and average effective rent ($1,818/mo, Jan 2025). Flooring extends past the scale to $8,000+.
Statistic 8
Move-out cleaning runs $150 to $400 per turn, the most predictable line item in the make-ready budget.
Lula make-ready benchmarks (2026)
Statistic 9
Painting runs $250 for touch-up work to $3,500 for a full repaint of walls and ceilings.
Lula make-ready benchmarks (2026)
Statistic 10
Flooring is the single biggest swing line in the make-ready budget: $150 for a patch and clean to $8,000 or more for full replacement.
Lula make-ready benchmarks (2026)
Statistic 11
Appliance repair or replacement adds anywhere from $0 to $3,000 or more per turn depending on what the outgoing resident left behind.
Lula make-ready benchmarks (2026)
Statistic 12
The remaining trades stack up as: drywall and hardware $150 to $1,500, plumbing and electrical $100 to $600, and HVAC service $75 to $350.
Lula make-ready benchmarks (2026)
Statistic 13
A standard managed make-ready takes 3 to 5 days; light in-house turns typically take 7 to 14 days, and heavy multi-vendor turns 7 to 21 days.
Lula make-ready benchmarks (2026)
Statistic 14
At the January 2025 average effective rent of $1,818, every vacant day costs roughly $60 in lost rent, so an average 34.4-day vacancy is about $2,060 per turn, more than half the total cost.
RapidEye Research calculation, from RealPage figures (2025)
What this means: the make-ready labor is not what makes a turn expensive; the calendar is. The physical work on a standard turn fits inside a week, and the largest cost driver is whichever line item forces the unit to sit longer. This is the same time-is-money math hotels run on housekeeping cost per room, compressed into one high-stakes event instead of a nightly cycle.
How often units turn, and how long they sit
Turn frequency is the multiplier on everything above. According to Zego's 2026 Resident Experience Management Report, a survey of 602 property managers and 1,037 renters conducted in early 2026, average resident retention now stands at 57%, which means 43% of units require full turnover processing every year. RealPage's rent-roll data tells the same story from the transaction side: just over 54% of market-rate renters renewed in the year ending October 2024, against a 2010 to 2019 average of 50.7%, and retention climbed to near-record levels in 2025 even as record new supply hit the market. The window between residents is measured too: RealPage puts average vacant days at 34.4 at the end of 2024, up from about 30 in early 2020. Short-term rental operators live an extreme version of this same clock; see our companion report on vacation rental turnover time statistics, where the whole cycle compresses into hours.
Statistic 15
Average multifamily resident retention is 57% in 2026, meaning 43% of units go through full turnover processing every year.
Zego (2026)
Statistic 16
Retention climbed steadily from 54% in 2021 to a peak of 60% in 2024, then fell back to 57% by 2026.
Zego (2026)
Statistic 17
Only 8% of properties exceed 70% retention, and the average retention goal has been lowered from 66% in 2024 to 60% now.
Zego (2026)
Statistic 18
A 5,000-unit portfolio slipping from 60% to 57% retention takes on 150 additional turns per year, roughly $600,000 in added annual turnover cost at $4,000 per turn.
Zego (2026)
Statistic 19
Just over 54% of market-rate renters renewed their lease in the year ending October 2024, up 120 basis points year-over-year; renewals averaged 50.7% across 2010 to 2019.
RealPage (2024)
Statistic 20
Retention hit its record of about 57% in mid-2022, with Class C properties at a 65% renewal rate against 53.4% for more transient Class A.
RealPage (2022)
Statistic 21
In 2025, retention climbed to near-record levels despite record new supply and widespread concessions, defying industry forecasts.
RealPage (2026)
Statistic 22
The average stabilized unit sat vacant 34.4 days between residents at the end of 2024, versus about 30 days in early 2020; the extra days add about $275 per unit in expenses and turnover costs.
RealPage (2025)
Statistic 23
The national rental vacancy rate reached 7.3% in spring 2026, up from just 5.6% in 2021.
Zillow (2026)
What this means: retention and vacancy are moving in opposite directions from where operators want them. Fewer residents are staying than in 2024, and each departure now costs more calendar time than it did before the pandemic. The 34.4-day average vacancy against a 3-to-5-day physical make-ready says most of the empty window is leasing, not labor.
What drives the cost up
Three forces set the size of the bill: pricing decisions that trigger the move-out, concessions spent to refill the unit, and expense inflation on the make-ready itself. Zego's 2026 renter survey, using a Van Westendorp price sensitivity model, found renters begin reconsidering renewal at an average rent increase of 8%, with a $90 to $150 monthly increase triggering hesitation across rent levels. On the refill side, according to Zillow's rental market report (zillow.com), 39.8% of US rental listings offered a concession in spring 2026, more than double the pre-pandemic share. And the make-ready is inflating too: the National Apartment Association's operating income and expenses survey tracked per-unit operating expenses and insurance climbing steeply, while Camden Property Trust, one of the largest US apartment REITs, raised its repair and maintenance expense expectations by 8.5% citing higher unit turnover costs, as reported by Multifamily Dive.
Statistic 24
Renters begin reconsidering renewal at an average rent increase of 8%, and an increase of roughly $90 to $150 a month triggers hesitation across rent levels.
Zego (2026)
Statistic 25
Residents paying $2,000 or more per month show the lowest tolerance for percentage-based rent increases, not the highest.
Zego (2026)
Statistic 26
Renters name expensive rent, poor maintenance service, and safety concerns as their top reasons for leaving; property managers instead attribute move-outs to life changes and home purchases.
Zego (2026)
Statistic 27
Maintenance issues are the second-most-common controllable reason residents choose not to renew, trailing only rent pricing.
Zego (2026)
Statistic 28
39.8% of US rental listings offered a concession in spring 2026, up from roughly 1 in 3 a year earlier and more than double the share before the pandemic.
Zillow (2026)
Statistic 29
Concessions are most common in Denver (68.3% of listings), Charlotte (66.6%), and Dallas (64.2%), and rarest in Buffalo (11.1%).
Zillow (2026)
Statistic 30
Among properties offering concessions in 2025, the average reached the equivalent of 36 days of free rent, with high-supply markets like Austin, Denver, San Antonio, and Jacksonville offering up to three months free.
RealPage (2026)
Statistic 31
Total apartment operating expenses rose 2.6% per unit year-over-year in 2020, with property taxes alone making up more than 35% of total expenses, and insurance costs per unit jumping nearly 19%.
National Apartment Association income and expenses survey (2021)
Statistic 32
Camden Property Trust raised its repair and maintenance expense expectations by 8.5%, a 350-basis-point jump over prior projections, citing higher unit turnover costs.
Camden Property Trust, reported by Multifamily Dive (2023)
Statistic 33
When a turn goes through eviction instead of a normal move-out, the average cost reaches $7,685 after unpaid rent and legal fees.
Snappt, cited in Zego's 2024 report
What this means: the two biggest controllable reasons residents leave, pricing past the 8% threshold and slow maintenance, are both cheaper to fix than the $3,872 turn they trigger. And the refill side now costs real money too: a 36-day concession on a $1,818 rent is worth more than $2,100, meaning a lost renewal can cost close to two turns' worth of value once the replacement lease is discounted.
Cite this study
Academic or press use: copy a ready-made reference. RapidEye is the publisher.
Quick FAQ
How much does apartment turnover cost per unit?
The average apartment turnover costs $3,872 per unit, per Zego's survey of 630 property managers at communities of 250 or more units, and Zego's continuing research keeps the figure at approximately $4,000 per turn. The National Apartment Association puts the range for a single move-out at $1,000 to $5,000 depending on how much upgrading the unit needs.
What percentage of apartment units turn over each year?
43% of multifamily units turn over each year. Zego's 2026 survey of 602 property managers puts the average resident retention rate at 57%, down from a peak of 60% in 2024, which means 43 of every 100 units go through a full turnover annually.
How long does an apartment sit vacant between residents?
34.4 days on average. RealPage's market analytics measured average vacant days at 34.4 at the end of 2024, up from about 30 in early 2020. Best-practice make-ready programs compress the physical turn to 3 to 5 days; the rest of the vacancy window is leasing time.
What is the biggest cost in an apartment turnover?
Lost rent during vacancy. At the January 2025 national average effective rent of $1,818 per month reported by RealPage, every vacant day costs roughly $60, so a typical 34.4-day vacancy is about $2,060 in lost rent alone, more than half of the $3,872 average total turn cost. Among physical line items, flooring is the biggest swing: $150 for a patch and clean to $8,000 or more for full replacement.
Data sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these named public sources, each checked against the original before publishing. Sources are named at the publisher level with their root domain, rather than linked or titled; every figure is verifiable at the named source.
ZegoResident experience management reports, 2023 to 2026gozego.com
National Apartment AssociationTurnover cost analysis and income and expenses surveynaahq.org
RealPageMarket analytics on retention, vacant days, and concessionsrealpage.com
ZillowRental market report on concessions and vacancy, 2026zillow.com
Multifamily DiveTrade reporting on the Zego dataset and REIT expensesmultifamilydive.com
LulaMake-ready cost benchmarks, 2026lula.life
BelongTenant turnover cost guide for rental homeownersbelonghome.com
Multifamily ExecutiveReporting on unit turnover time and vacancy costmultifamilyexecutive.com
SnapptEviction cost analysis, as cited by Zegosnappt.com