KPI Checks Help Property Managers Stay on Track
These metrics can reveal the gaps operators need to be aware of.
The middle of the year is a busy time for the multifamily industry, between summer and peak leasing season in full swing. But the flurry of activity shouldn’t stop property managers from taking a step back to assess business performance and prepare for the second half of the year.
“I like the midyear point, because we’re not just looking back but we’re really looking at the road ahead,” said Mendowa Martin, senior vice president & head of operations with JLL’s multifamily management platform.
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“There needs to be a midpoint of reflection and regrouping of not only how we are going to achieve the goals that we told our clients we would achieve by year-end but also what that looks like going into 2026, because all of us are getting ready to write our budgets,” she added.
Key metrics such as occupancy, rents and net operating income give property managers critical insights into performance and reveal any gaps that need to be addressed. More granular data such as lead-to-lease conversion rates, broken down by marketing source, can help operators tweak marketing strategies and reallocate budgets if necessary.
Metrics such as work order completion times and repeat ticket rates are especially important amid the summer workload surge. A weak maintenance operation translates to unhappy residents, which means less renewals.
Property managers collect and analyze a wide spectrum of KPIs that allow them to evaluate property health in near-real time. As the second half of the year kicks off, red flags in the data provide an opportunity to change course.
“From a renewal standpoint, our community managers can go (into our platform) and say, ‘OK, I’m supposed to be at 94 percent occupancy. I’m only at 90 percent. This is how many move-ins I’m going to need to catch up,’” said Angie Atkins, senior vice president of community management for Thompson Thrift.
That, in turn, allows community managers to calculate how many leads and tours will be required to correct the occupancy shortfall.
Another red flag is a weak lead-to-lease conversion rate, according to Patti Higgins, a senior vice president at Parktown Living. “If you’re getting the traffic but not seeing signed leases, that’s a signal to evaluate everything from marketing strategy to leasing execution,” she noted.
Maximum visibility
An effective review of how a community is performing starts with having the right data at one’s fingertips. Most firms use a combination of enterprise platforms and internal tools and dashboards to track metrics from occupancy to work order completion times.
“We have a phenomenal business intelligence team that, over the last several years, has really armed the operating group with all the data that we need to be able to track, measure and react to performance at our properties, across our portfolio,” said Scott Ferguson, executive vice president of operations at Waterton.
“I think it’s really important for everybody to have visibility into those metrics and into that data,” he said, noting that community managers and even leasing associates have access to the same dashboards he does. “They can see how their individual property is performing. They can also look at the larger portfolio, so they can see how they’re contributing to that portfolio performance.”
Parktown Living has developed internal dashboards and reporting tools to track trends across its portfolio and offer visibility to site teams, regional managers and leadership, according to Higgins.
“We also place a strong emphasis on resident feedback,” regularly reviewing Google reviews and online reputation scores, she noted. “They provide qualitative insight that you can’t always capture in a dashboard.”
Real-time intelligence allows corrections to be made, but results might have a lag time measured in months. Anticipated move-ins and move-outs already on the books, for example, allow Waterton to project occupancy at the end of each week over the next 60 days, according to Ferguson.
“I can look at that today in a BI dashboard for any given property and know whether we have to make adjustments right now to be able to meet our budget objectives 60 days from now,” he said.
Some less obvious KPIs provide vital insight into how a property is performing. Martin cites operating margin per unit, which “makes sure that the expense creep isn’t eroding performance behind the scenes.”
“I don’t think it’s enough just to celebrate high occupancy or growing rents, because if expenses are quietly rising faster than revenue, we’re losing ground,” she said.
Early preparation
Property managers strive to lay the groundwork for a successful leasing season and head off operational challenges months in advance. By midyear, with peak season well underway, it can be too late to make meaningful adjustments if problems surface.
“(Checking) KPIs is something that’s ongoing,” said Ferguson. “Frankly, if you’re not taking a holistic look at your data until midyear, you’ve likely already missed the boat.”
“We’re looking at data on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly basis, starting from the very beginning of the year, if not actually before the year begins,” he added. KPIs including occupancy and rents are monitored to benchmark current and predicted performance against what’s budgeted for the year. “We start really early, and then just continue to measure those things throughout the year to make sure that we’re on track.”
That said, periodic higher-level reviews are also crucial, according to Ferguson. He noted that Waterton conducts quarterly business reviews with regional and community managers to look at how portfolios and properties are performing in general.
When it comes to maintenance and staffing challenges, though, he warns: “You have to look at that way before your peak policing season hits. So, we’re looking at this in February and March, because things start to ramp up from there.”
“Midyear is a nice place to take a big picture approach to where you’re at, but it really starts before that and how often you are checking in with your teams,” said Atkins.
