📢 Good morning,
Greystar, overseeing nearly 1 million U.S. apartments, has appointed Toni Eubanks to lead property management and is leaning on technology and transparency as competitive levers. Tools like its “Total Monthly Leasing Price” calculator respond to affordability concerns and regulatory scrutiny while new PropTech investments aim to lower expenses and boost retention. With rent growth slowing to under 1% annually and occupancy dipping to decade lows, operators must pivot from rent pushing to operational excellence.
Greystar manages ~1 million units (≈21% of U.S. apartments, NMHC).
New “Total Monthly Leasing Price” tool launched July 2025.
National stabilized occupancy: 94.4% (Mar 2025, Yardi) – lowest since 2013.
National rent growth: 0.9% YoY (Apr 2025, MHN).
Sun Belt declines: Austin -5.6%, Phoenix -3.1% YoY (MHN).
CMBS multifamily delinquency: 6.9% (Aug 2025, Trepp).
Loan Performance
Multifamily distress is climbing: nearly 7% of CMBS apartment loans are delinquent. Lenders note maturing loans struggle to refinance without heavy reserves. Greystar’s tech-driven expense controls and transparent practices could provide incremental NOI stability, strengthening refinancing prospects. Yet, no tool eliminates refinancing risk if rent growth remains sub-1%. Owners underwriting with conservative 1–3% rent growth and 2% expense inflation assumptions are more defensible in today’s environment.
Demand Dynamics
Occupancy slipped to 94.4%, a 12-year low, amid record new supply. Tenants are increasingly cost-sensitive, demonstrated by rent declines in Sun Belt metros. Transparency initiatives directly address this sensitivity by reducing friction in leasing decisions and bolstering resident trust. Retention becomes critical: avoiding turnover saves 2–3 months’ rent equivalent in downtime and marketing. Tools like AI leasing agents and chatbots further streamline resident engagement, softening the blow of oversupply.
Asset Strategies
Operational focus is shifting to efficiency. Greystar’s calculator standardizes disclosures, improving resident relations while reducing disputes. Smart home tech, IoT sensors, and predictive maintenance directly lower controllable expenses, often trimming OpEx growth by 50–100 bps annually. Owners adopting these systems can maintain NOI even as top-line revenue growth stalls. Training staff to integrate these tools is equally important—execution risk grows if adoption lags.
Capital Markets
Equity investors are adjusting underwriting guardrails. Rent growth assumptions reset to CPI-like levels, and cap rates reflect greater risk premium for markets with supply pressure. Transparency moves may reassure institutional capital that management practices are regulatorily compliant, preserving access to equity and debt. For lenders wary after the RealPage lawsuits, operators who adopt self-policing and transparent fee structures may enjoy better financing terms.
NOI protection now hinges more on operational discipline than rent hikes.
Transparency reduces regulatory risk and strengthens tenant loyalty.
Tech adoption can shave OpEx growth below 2% annually.
Scale players set industry norms; smaller firms risk lagging without adaptation.
🛠 Operator’s Lens
Roll out resident cost disclosures proactively to reduce disputes and boost renewals.
Budget for PropTech investments (AI chatbots, IoT sensors) but capture OpEx savings in underwriting.
Train site teams thoroughly on new systems to avoid execution gaps.
Track KPIs (renewals, work order times) pre- and post-tech adoption to validate ROI.
In the next 12–18 months, PropTech consolidation will standardize once-cutting-edge tools into baseline expectations. Managers failing to adopt will lose contracts to larger, tech-forward operators. Industry-wide transparency guidelines could emerge, spearheaded by NMHC, to pre-empt regulatory crackdowns.
Market fundamentals remain soft through 2026 as new supply weighs on rents and occupancy. Operational expertise will decide winners and losers. By 2027, once supply moderates, those who preserved occupancy through efficiency and tenant focus will be positioned to lift rents again.
We also anticipate consolidation in management firms: scale is increasingly necessary to fund tech rollouts. Expect more third-party owners outsourcing to Greystar and peers, while mid-sized regional managers may merge or exit.
Bisnow (Greystar, Sept 2025) – MultiHousing - News (Occupancy, Rent Growth) – NMHC (Management share) – Trepp (CMBS delinquency)
Chart 1: U.S. Apartment Occupancy Rate (%) – 2018–2025 YTD
Chart 2: U.S. Multifamily Rent Growth (%) – 2015–2025
