Resident Intelligence is the practice of connecting reputation, marketing, and leasing signals to explain why apartment communities win or lose leases. HeyNeighborly delivers it, powered by its Resident OS platform.
Most are not shrinking. In Apartments.com's 2026 survey of 700 multifamily marketing decision-makers, 44% are increasing spending, 48% are holding budgets steady and 8% are reducing them. What is changing is the standard each line item has to meet. About two-thirds of the same respondents ranked high-quality leads and strong lead-to-lease conversion among their most important goals when they evaluate an advertising source.
HeyNeighborly runs social media, content, review replies, ads and local search for apartment communities. This post covers what the 2027 numbers say and the questions I would bring to a budget meeting.
What does the market look like going into 2027?
Still competitive. The same Apartments.com budget guide cites CoStar projections that new supply additions will fall 24% year over year, while vacancy rises to 8.8% early in 2027 before easing to 8.4% by the fourth quarter. Rent growth is projected to reach 1.5% by year end, with Sun Belt and Mountain markets expected to recover more slowly.
Fewer new buildings, but vacancy stays high enough that communities keep competing for the same renters. That is why the budget conversation has shifted from "how much" to "what did it produce."
Is this different from last year?
The share raising budgets is the same. Apartments.com's 2025 survey, which represented 16,000 properties, found that 44% of respondents saw their marketing budget grow for 2025, and only 7% reported a shrinking budget. Cuts were concentrated at the largest properties: 17% of respondents responsible for 400 or more units reported a smaller budget.
The pressure on lead quality was already there. In that 2025 survey, 70% of decision-makers named high-quality leads an important outcome and only 24% prioritized a high volume of leads. 72% called low-quality leads a primary operational concern.
My read: two years of mostly flat budgets means nobody is getting new money to experiment. Any new line item has to replace an old one that cannot show results.
Where is the money going now?
Listing sites first. In the 2026 survey, 80% of respondents use listing sites and 53% use email; every other tactic, including display, search engine marketing and generative AI tools, was used by fewer than half.
That matches renter behavior. In Apartments.com's July 2026 survey of nearly 27,000 renters, 85% of prospective renters use or plan to use a rental search site or app, against 33% for property websites, 33% for word of mouth and 32% for search engines.
What should a 2027 budget pay for?
The things renters say decide the shortlist. From the same July 2026 renter survey:
- 74% want online photos of the exact unit they are considering, and 47% call a lack of exact unit photos a deal-breaker.
- 81% prefer to see the total price with all required fees included.
- 96% say reviews are important to their decision.
Photos, accurate pricing and reviews show up on every channel a renter uses, including the listing site the budget already pays for. In my view, money spent on current unit photos and on replying to reviews makes the listing spend work harder, which is an easier case to make in a flat-budget year than a new channel.
What should you ask before signing off on next year's budget?
Ask what each dollar produced, line by line:
- Which sources produced leases last year, not just leads? If a source cannot be tied to a lease, it is the first candidate to cut.
- When were the unit photos on each listing last updated?
- Who replies to reviews, and how fast?
- Does the pricing on the website, listings and social posts match what a renter pays with fees?
- What does each vendor report every month, and does it show leasing outcomes or only activity?
Frequently asked questions
Are apartment marketing budgets going down in 2027?
Most are not. 44% of decision-makers in Apartments.com's 2026 survey are increasing spending and 48% are holding steady; 8% are cutting.
What do multifamily marketers care about most when choosing an ad source?
Lead quality and lead-to-lease conversion. About two-thirds ranked them among their most important goals.
How does HeyNeighborly price its services?
Per community, based on scope. The scope and the quote are set on a call.
If you are building a 2027 plan for several communities, book a call with HeyNeighborly and we will go through which of your current line items show leasing results.
Sources
- Apartments.com via Multifamily Dive, It's budget season for multifamily marketers: 5 tips to get ready (sponsored, Aug 24, 2026): 2026 survey of 700 decision-makers, 44% / 48% / 8%, about two-thirds lead quality and lead-to-lease, 80% listing sites, 53% email; CoStar projections 24%, 8.8%, 8.4%, 1.5%.
- Apartments.com, Survey: Lead Quality Remains Top Priority for Multifamily Marketers (Jul 28, 2025): 16,000 properties; 44%, 7%, 17%, 70%, 24%, 72%.
- Apartments.com, How Renters Decide: Top Considerations in 2026 (Jul 14, 2026): nearly 27,000 renters; 85%, 33%, 33%, 32%, 74%, 47%, 81%, 96%.
