Apartment Retention Rates Surge to Near Lockdown-Era Peaks

Apartment retention rates are soaring back to lockdown-era highs, as more renters are determining that staying in place is often the best and most affordable option – given a remarkable lack of alternatives for all types of housing and for all price points.

The share of renters choosing to renew expiring leases in August 2021 surged 4 percentage points year-over-year, the largest increase on record. That brought the overall retention rate to 57.2%, just shy of the historical peaks set during the height of the lockdowns in April-May 2020. The abrupt snap-back in retention over the last two months marks an abrupt turnaround from a pattern of normalizing retention rates seen since last summer.