The Leasing Metric Everyone’s Ignoring: Why Speed to Decision Is Costing You
Featuring Austin Lo, Founder & CEO of Peek
In multifamily, every day an apartment sits vacant is money lost.
Marketing and leasing teams hyper-focus on generating more and better-qualified leads with technology–pouring resources into lead attribution, AI leasing assistants and CRM automation. But even with all that tech, one factor remains drastically under-optimized: speed to decision. And it’s dragging down your NOI.
During the OpTech 365 Applying & Leasing Workshop, Austin Lo, Founder and CEO of Peek, made a compelling case to rethink how operators define leasing success.
“When it comes to affecting revenue at a property, how quickly you can get a prospect to decide this is their next home is the most powerful lever,” Lo explained.
In a room full of solutions focused on generating demand, Austin re-focused the conversation to what happens after the tour request.
The Overlooked Metric: How Fast Renters Decide
During his OpTech session, Austin introduced a leasing simulation that tested three strategies:
Increase lead volume
Improve lead quality
Speed up how quickly renters make leasing decisions
The outcome was surprising.
Even when lead volume or lead quality was doubled, the improvement in vacancy loss was minimal—just a few days shaved off, at best. That’s because more leads or better leads don’t necessarily mean faster leases. At industry averages, properties are already getting more than enough leads – but those leads can still sit in limbo for days, waiting to tour, follow up, or hear back from a leasing office.
But when the model was adjusted to simulate what happens when renters are able to make decisions faster, say by giving them better access to unit information, virtual tours, or instant responses, the results were dramatic. A small boost in decision speed led to a direct and significant drop in vacant days. Faster decisions meant units sat empty for less time. And less vacancy meant real savings: up to $55,000 annually per property.
Driving NOI through leasing isn’t just about filling the top of the funnel. It’s about clearing friction from the middle, those critical days between interest and commitment. And if those delays aren’t addressed, they chip away at your bottom line.
Renter Behavior Has Changed. Has Your Funnel?
Today’s renters expect self-service, instant gratification, and no friction. They can book a vacation, finance a car, and buy furniture on their phones. So why are they still waiting 2–3 days to tour an apartment?
Peek does just that. Its platform enables renters to explore exact units via 3D, immersive virtual tours. They see real-time availability, compare layouts, and submit guest cards via in-app CTAs—often before a leasing agent even gets involved.
Peek also just launched their new feature Peek AI Connect. As more renters turn to AI tools like ChatGPT to begin their apartment search, AI Connect helps your available units be more discoverable by these tools.
Because when renters can see more, decide faster, and act on their own terms, leasing becomes not just more efficient—but more competitive.
Proof in the Portfolio: Real-World Results
The operators adopting this approach aren’t just winning more leases—they’re accelerating NOI recovery:
Veris Residential stabilized a 750-unit luxury Jersey City lease up 3 months ahead of schedule, using Peek’s platform
Read case study →Dermot pre-leased 54% of its units using Peek’s 3D unit-level virtual tours and platform.
Read case study →ZRS Management supercharged leasing for a new development with 82% of pre-leases and 94% of all sight-unseen leases utilizing Peek.
Read case study →
What the Panel Said: Friction Is Still Everywhere
Throughout the OpTech 365 session, panelists echoed the same theme: there’s still too much manual effort in the leasing journey.
Rebecca Smith (Director of Marketing, WPM Real Estate) shared:
“We’re auditing leasing processes across communities—and prospects are still applying 2–3 times just to get into the same PMC. That’s a huge strain.”
Matt Rogers (SVP, RPM Living) went further:
“We need to provide more opportunities to connect—not fewer. Virtual touring, after-hours access, omnichannel touchpoints… renters expect it.”
Rebuilding the Funnel Around Today’s Renter
The takeaway is clear: you can’t out-market slow processes. If your leasing experience delays decisions, your revenue suffers, no matter how strong your pipeline is. Peek’s self-serve platform is designed to change that by making leasing faster, smarter, and friction-free.
“Every day saved in the leasing process is money in the bank,” said Austin. “If you’re not accelerating decisions, you’re leaving revenue on the table.”
