Lease renewal rate

Lease renewal rate measures how often eligible expiring leases become signed renewals. A clear version divides renewals signed for a selected expiration cohort by the number of leases eligible for renewal in that same cohort. The denominator should explain how it treats owner nonrenewals, planned renovations, sales, unresolved offers, and month-to-month continuations; silently excluding difficult cases makes the rate look better without improving operations.

Choose the event that counts as a renewal before comparing periods. A verbal yes, an offer sent, a document signed by one party, and a fully executed lease are different milestones. For operating decisions, fully executed agreements are the safest completed count, while offers and resident responses belong in a pipeline view. Also allow enough time for the cohort to mature so leases still under negotiation are not prematurely classified as losses.

Renewal rate is useful because it connects leasing work to future turnover and vacancy, but it is not a stand-alone quality score. A high rate achieved through consistently under-market rent may sacrifice income; a lower rate may reflect intentional repositioning or owner decisions rather than resident dissatisfaction. Review it beside market rent, renewal economics, maintenance history, and the actual reasons households gave.

Small portfolios should show the numerator and denominator with the percentage. If three of four eligible households renew, one decision moves the rate by 25 percentage points. Cohort detail prevents that natural volatility from being mistaken for a trend and makes the metric more actionable than an all-time average.