Lower Rents Stabilize Apartment Leasing During Stay-at-Home Orders

5012 Apartments, Trion Properties’ latest development

Savvy apartment owners have already dropped rents to prop up leasing activity during stay-at-home orders. Trio Properties, a Los Angeles-based multifamily owner and developer, lowered rents 5% to 8% in late March to get ahead of the situation and competition. As a result, it has seen an increase in leasing activity and move-ins during the pandemic.

“We have signed a ton of new leases and we have had a ton of new move-ins,” Max Sharkansky, principal of Trion Properties, tells GlobeSt.com. “We adjusted rents down a little bit and added some concessions. We really got ahead of it. We started that program in mid- to late-March, and we got ahead of a lot of our competitors that just were not moving on rents. We were tracking rent trends daily, and a lot of our competitors just staying on their path. When we reduced rents, we saw a huge spike in leasing activity.”