The short answer
Last updated: July 2026
Vacancy cost is the rent you forgo for each day a unit sits empty — income you can’t recover later. Estimate it by turning monthly rent into a daily rate (rent × 12 ÷ 365) and multiplying by the days vacant. A $1,575/month unit empty 20 days loses about $1,035, before carrying costs.
After the estimate:
Self-management softwareVacancy calculator
What an empty unit is costing you.
Every day a unit sits empty is rent you never get back. Here's the arithmetic on yours.
Monthly rent for the unit
$
Days vacant
30
0 days
90 days
Input-driven result
Your inputs
Formula
Result below
$1,553
At $1,575/mo, every vacant day costs about $52. 30 days empty ≈ $1,553 in rent you won't get back.
Vacancy cost at this rent
One vacant day
$52
30 vacant days
$1,553
One month of rent
$1,575
Estimate based on your inputs. Not a promise of results.
Opportunity-cost arithmetic only. The calculator does not predict how long your vacancy will last or claim Aptoria will shorten it.
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How it works
How this tool works.
A vacant rental doesn’t just feel expensive — it’s a measurable hole in your year. Every day the unit sits empty is a day of rent you can’t recover later, on top of the taxes, insurance, and mortgage that don’t pause when the tenant leaves.
This calculator turns that into a plain number: enter the monthly rent and how many days the unit has been (or might be) empty, and it estimates the rent forgone over that window. It’s an illustration built from the figures you enter — not a prediction of your actual vacancy.
1
Enter the unit’s monthly rent and drag the slider to the number of days it’s vacant.
2
The tool annualizes your rent to a daily figure (monthly rent × 12 ÷ 365) and multiplies by the days empty.
3
The result is the rough rent you forgo over that stretch — an estimate from your inputs, not a guaranteed or measured loss.
4
Use it to weigh how much a faster turnaround, or a better-priced listing, is actually worth to you.
Make the result useful
Use vacancy cost to set a decision threshold
Vacancy is not only a leasing metric. It gives you a dollar threshold for deciding whether a repair, a listing upgrade, or a modest concession is worth considering. Start with the rent you actually expect to collect, not an aspirational asking price.
Keep the result separate from carrying costs. Mortgage, tax, insurance, and owner-paid utilities continue while a unit is empty, so lost rent is the clean minimum—not the full economic cost.
Worked example
At $2,000/month, daily rent is about $65.75. A 14-day vacancy means roughly $921 of lost rent. A $350 listing improvement would need to shorten vacancy by a little over five days to offset itself on rent alone.
Questions landlords ask
Questions about this tool and its limits.
How is the daily cost calculated?
It annualizes your monthly rent and divides by 365, so a $1,575/month unit works out to roughly $52 a day. Multiply that by the days vacant and you get the estimated rent forgone. It’s arithmetic on your inputs, not a market forecast.
Does this include costs beyond lost rent?
No — it isolates the rent you don’t collect while the unit is empty. Carrying costs like utilities, taxes, and mortgage interest keep running during a vacancy too, so your true cost is usually higher than the number shown.
Can Aptoria fill a vacancy faster?
This tool doesn’t claim that. It sizes the cost of a vacancy so you can decide what a faster turnaround is worth. Aptoria helps with listing, screening, and leasing workflows, but the figure here is your own math — not a promised outcome.
Is the vacancy number a real benchmark for my property?
No. The days-vacant figure is yours to set, and the result is arithmetic from that input and your rent. It is not a forecast or market benchmark.
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Editorial ownership
Written and maintained by the Aptoria editorial team
Editorial method reviewed July 28, 2026. Aptoria reviews scope, source fit, examples, limitations, links, and publication gates. This record does not claim attorney, CPA, lender, appraiser, or other independent professional sign-off.
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