Your true competitors–who are they? Exploring the meaning of true competitors, and understanding the concept, can assist owners and operators in making informed decisions that improve the financial performance and long-term viability of their properties.
Traditional methods of conducting market surveys involve comparing floor plans and prices of nearby communities targeting similar resident demographics. However, this approach only scratches the surface of the real meaning of true competitors.
Data aggregation must be sharper and more comprehensive for operations and revenue teams to make sound decisions that move units quickly. Fully grasping your true competitors can help achieve more profitable outcomes.
Identifying True Competitors
Competitors can be anyone in your markets, but true competitors go much deeper into comparing property-level and unit-level details.
- Similar unit sizes. They offer units of similar sizing targeting the same residential needs. This doesn’t mean floor plan–comparing only floor plans can be misleading. Using square footage to measure the area of unit comparables is more precise and can help track available and leased units by size in the market comps similar to those at your properties.
- Unit pricing. Their rental rates are competitive with yours. Understanding their unit pricing relative to yours can help position vacancies effectively within the market, increasing lease velocity.
Days on the market. Their similarly-sized units have been available for an equivalent number of days as yours. Units entering the market at the same time create competition. But the longer one sits, the less comparable they become. This is when concessions or incentives may be offered, making a corresponding comparison impractical due to the pricing adjustment of the unit with a longer vacancy. - Amenities and services. They provide comparable amenities and services, such as pools, fitness center, package acceptance and storage, a dog park, a playground, and more. Amenities and services are important factors for targeted resident groups when choosing a place to live.
- Locality. They’re in close proximity to your properties. The local factor means they’re vying for market share, targeted renter demographics, and maintaining competitive rental rates, including base rent and move-in costs.
- Property classification. They share the same letter classification as your properties, taking into account geographical and physical property characteristics.
Why True Competitors Matter
Identifying your true competitors with the right type of data and aggregation speed can help you make informed decisions to increase your properties’ rental income and profitability while minimizing vacancies. It’s a competitive rental market–knowing who your true comps are matters.
Understanding the competitive landscape
You can better evaluate your market positioning, benchmark, and identify trends with a clear understanding of the competitive landscape.
Automated market survey data makes it easier to track true competitors, providing greater market visibility and detailed unit information. Analyzing how your units are performing against others will help you stay ahead of the competition.
Developing differentiation strategies
Using data helps in developing strategies to differentiate your properties from the true competition. This may involve providing pricing recommendations that reflect market demand or improving amenities/services to attract renters and maximize revenue potential.
Enhancing operational effectiveness
Recognizing true competitors can help you enhance operational effectiveness. By tracking their comp data, and knowing what they’re doing right and where they fall short, you can optimize your operations to improve efficiency, reduce vacancy rates, and increase profitability.
Compare Units like a Renter Using Public Data
Making accurate unit comparisons depends on precise, transparent public comp data. Defining the essential criteria for true competitors can help you make well-informed decisions to drive financial performance and property sustainability.
At ApartmentIQ, we’re committed to providing the most accurate and transparent competitor data available. Our modern market survey combines automation with 100% public data, surfacing performance metrics and identifying true unit comparisons just as a renter would. We call these truComps so you can track and monitor units most similar to yours on the market.