What Does it Mean to Swap Surveys in Multifamily?

What Does it Mean to Swap Surveys in Multifamily?

In multifamily real estate, swapping surveys typically refers to the practice of exchanging market survey data between property managers, owners, or research platforms. This is commonly done to gain insights into rent pricing, occupancy trends, concessions, and competitive positioning across different properties.

How Swapping Surveys Works

1. Direct Exchange – Two or more property management companies or owners agree to share their internal rent and occupancy surveys with each other.
2. Third-Party Platforms – Some software platforms facilitate survey swapping by aggregating data from multiple properties, allowing users to access competitor data in exchange for contributing their own.
3. Informal Sharing – Some property managers or leasing agents informally trade rent rolls or survey data with competitors to stay updated on market conditions.

Why Swapping Surveys Happens

• Competitive Intelligence – Helps owners and managers adjust pricing and leasing strategies based on local competition.
• Market Benchmarking – Ensures that a property remains competitive with nearby alternatives.
• Strategic Planning – Aids in forecasting rent trends and occupancy rates for budgeting and investment decisions.
• Limited Public Data – In many cases, real-time, hyperlocal multifamily rent and occupancy data isn’t widely available through public sources, making surveys a critical source of intelligence.

Potential Issues with Swapping Surveys

• Data Accuracy & Consistency – Since surveys rely on self-reported data, inconsistencies or inaccuracies can occur.
• Fair Housing & Antitrust Concerns – Sharing sensitive pricing information too directly between competitors can raise legal and regulatory risks.
• Reliability of Sources – Some properties may report outdated or selectively filtered data to skew competitive insights.

A New Approach to Multifamily Market Surveys

HelloData aggregates publicly available data rather than relying on swapping market surveys to avoid the legal and reliability concerns that come with direct exchanges. Instead of manually collecting and exchanging data, we provide consistent, real-time, and scalable market intelligence without requiring user participation in data sharing.