How We Define Rental Rates
Our Rent Definitions
Rental rates are illustrated under two formats – Actual and Market Standard; each format can be referenced independently in data illustration. The two formats define as:
Actual Rent (Street Rent) – The rate a property charges residents to occupy an apartment. No adjustments are applied.
Market Standard Rent – Rents are adjusted from Actual rents. Adjustments reflect the condition that apartment rental rates among floorplans of the same type vary from property-to-property as a consequence of qualitative characteristics influencing desirability, and/or elements of tangible (quantifiable) value included in rental rates. When elements of tangible value are included in a property's rents those elements are recognized in the form of deductions from, or additions to, actual rents to define a Market Standard rental rate.
The Market Standard rent places all properties on a similar plane, eliminating readily quantifiable inequalities (utilities, washers & dryers, direct-access garages, fireplaces) included in rental rates, and adding adjustments when residents pay water, sewer, or trash collection expenses, adjusting rents to a common-denominator. This Market Standard rent adjustment allows direct comparison of a submarket's rents with other submarkets, or adjusts individual unit type rents to a basis allowing more direct comparison with other units of the same type serving a submarket.
Our Rent Surveys
Rental rates are illustrated by both scheduled and unscheduled survey. Scheduled surveys are completed three times annually in January/February, May/June, and September/October.
In addition to scheduled surveys, rental rates are illustrated according to:
- Time of Sale - Rental rates illustrated in a sale comparable are as of the time of sale completion.
- Special Survey - A single property adjustment due to a rent survey error when a subscriber requires a special survey to update area rents, a special survey can be completed, and those rents illustrated for the properties selected.
Rental rates are then identified according to type (i.e. Type 1, Type 2…) as :
| Type | Survey Timing |
|---|---|
| Scheduled | |
| 1 | January/February |
| 2 | May/June |
| 3 | September/October (Benchmark) |
| Unscheduled | |
| 4 | Time of Sale |
| 5 | Special Survey |