Sourcing quality applicants among top challenges for property managers: rent.com.au survey

With vacancy rates in a number of Australian capital cities remaining an issue, property managers are faced with three main challenges - improving communication, securing new managements and sourcing quality applicants to fill vacant properties, a new survey reveals.

A high proportion of respondents (64 percent) in rental property website Rent.com.au’s December property manager survey said they valued good communication with tenants and owners as a key focus in 2016, desiring to work more effectively and be capable of supporting both in their short-term and long-term objectives.

Other big challenges included implementing new technologies in a busy marketplace, sourcing and securing new managements and having renters attend viewings once a time slot is booked.

Another areas of focus were developing higher quality listings and tenant retention, especially in times of high vacancy rates.

“Our results show that property managers are aiming to strengthen communication with tenants and owners to establish the best possible level of customer service,” rent.com.au founder and CEO Mark Woschnak said. 

Property managers reported they would like further training in writing property listings, vendor paid advertising and responding to appraisals. 

Woschnak said the industry wanted to know how to create better-targeted, more successful online listings to fill vacancies quicker and with good tenants.

“The traditional forms of engagement with clients are rapidly changing and it’s becoming evident that property managers have a desire to improve their online marketing and multimedia application in order to boost their enquiry rates,” he said.

Developing strong tenant retention strategies will also be a major driver in 2016, Woschnak added. 

The survey revealed 82% of property managers considered building their rent roll to be ‘very important.’ Most respondents said they wished to grow their rent roll by 50% in 2016 (28%), while 26% expected it to increase by 11-20%. 

“Retaining good tenants is of paramount importance to the growth of any agency,” Woschnak said.

Key results of the survey:

• Most property management departments’ enquiries come in via email (83.33%), followed by phone (11.11%) and walk-ins (5.56%).

• 55.56% of respondents said they do not currently receive VPA for their rental listings.

• Key ways to secure property managements include an agency’s website (45.45%), walk-ins (27.27%) and Rent.com.au’s product RentQuotes. Other methods include word of mouth, referrals and through Google search.

• The majority of property managers (88.89%) indicated floor plans and videos were not presently a priority inclusion, adding the features to 0.25% of their listings. 11.11% said they added them to 26-50% of their listings.

• 72% of property managers add more than six photos to a listing, while the remaining 28% said they add between 3-5 photos.

• Property managers indicated an increase in the number of renters wanting more for less in today’s market, saying renters try hard to negotiate for better prices and want to dictate terms. 

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