Strategies for 2022 Apartment Budgeting in a Wild, Volatile Market

Best Practices for More Precise Planning & More Efficient Operations in the Year Ahead

For apartment professionals, 2022 planning budgets may be more challenging than in any other year in recent memory.

A remarkably wild 2021 — with record highs (rent, occupancy, demand, supply) and unprecedented risks (eviction bans, COVID-19 and intensifying policy pressures) — left the market with enormous divergence in performance. Larger, professionally managed, market-rate apartments generally performed very well while many smaller, “mom and pop” rentals — particularly in coastal gateway cities — struggled.

What does all that mean for 2022? Apartment owners and property managers have all learned one important thing: The world can change fast.

Budgeting for uncertainty means preparing for different scenarios — and building your operational and asset management strategy for 2022 beyond your baseline budget. Now is the time to explore ways to operate more efficiently and more effectively, so you’re ready to respond in any market condition — and reduce your margin of error in budgeting — through smart planning.

RealPage^_® Industry Principals and Economists came together to create this in-depth guide to help apartment owners and operators navigate this unprecedented budgeting journey by sharing our data-driven views on the key questions shaping the 2022 outlook:

• How long can rents grow at an historic pace?
• How should we budget for rent growth?
• Where can we target ancillary revenue opportunities?
• How should we budget for expenses? How does inflation factor in?
• How do we wrestle with staffing challenges plus expense growth?
• What are other ways to reduce costs (without impacting revenue)?