What Is the Average Turnover Rate for Apartments?

The national figure

• Average resident retention at large communities: about 58%
• Implied annual apartment turnover: about 42%
• Washington, DC metro: no published local rate we could source

Source: Lula citing Zego's 2025 Resident Experience Management Report. This is a published market figure, not a number about our clients.

How to calculate annual turnover rate for apartments?

Count the move-outs in the last 12 months. Divide by the number of units. Multiply by 100.

• Annual turnover rate = move-outs in 12 months ÷ total units × 100
• Example: 36 move-outs in a 90-unit building is 36 ÷ 90 = 0.40, a 40% turnover rate
• Count a unit twice if it turned twice in the year. Each move-out is a turn you paid for

Some owners divide by occupied units instead of total units. Either works, as long as you use the same method every year so the numbers compare.

How do I calculate average turnover?

For an average rate, add up each year's turnover rate and divide by the number of years. Three years at 38%, 44% and 41% average out to about 41%. One year can swing on a single lease cycle, so an average over three years is the number to plan with.

For the average cost of a turn, add up everything you spent on turnovers in the year (repairs, paint, flooring, cleaning, leasing and the rent lost while units sat empty) and divide by the number of turns. That gives you a cost per turn you can compare with the market figures in the apartment turnover cost guide.

What is a reasonable turnover rate?

Start with the national figure of about 42% and your own three-year average. A rate at or below both is holding steady. A rate that climbs year after year, or sits well above 42% for your kind of property, is worth a look at why residents are leaving.

A reasonable rate is also one your budget can carry. Multiply your units by your rate to get the number of turns a year, then multiply by your average cost per turn. If that total is more than you planned for, lowering the rate or the cost of each turn are the two levers.

What your turnover rate costs

Zego's 2026 industry survey puts the combined cost of lost rent, make-ready repairs, cleaning and leasing at about $4,000 per turn for multifamily operators. At that figure, a 100-unit property turning 42% of its units runs 42 turns a year, about $168,000. Every turn you avoid, or finish a week sooner, comes straight off that number. Where the $4,000 goes, line by line, is in why turnover is so expensive.

Source: Lula citing Zego's 2026 industry survey. A market figure, not our price. Your own number comes from a written price after the walkthrough.

Lower the cost of each turn

• Book the walkthrough when notice is given, not after the unit is empty
• Put every trade on one written scope so nobody waits on anybody
• Fix the causes of repeat damage while the unit is open
• Plan your turns around the busy leasing months

How long each stage takes is in how long an apartment turnover takes. The fixes that stop the same damage next time are in cutting damage between tenants. When a unit comes open, our apartment turnover services put the whole unit on one scope and one price.