Methodology

Empowering Multifamily Professionals with Unmatched Data Insight

At ALN Apartment Data, we blend innovation with over three decades of industry expertise to deliver the most comprehensive multifamily data and analytics platforms.

Keep reading to learn more about our data and methodology.

Let’s Talk

Our responsibility to our clients is to deliver the most accurate and up-to-date information possible.

We go beyond the norm to ensure you receive the most precise and current multifamily data available. Unlike other providers who rely on market sampling, our approach is different. We undertake comprehensive primary research for every property that meets our rigorous standards.

Proprietary Collection Methods

From our Research Team call centers in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas and Mayfield, Kentucky, each completed survey has gone through a number of proprietary data checks that assure the information collected is correct.

Publicly Accessible Data

We continuously track publicly accessible data from a variety of sources including corporate websites, job listings, news outlets, and more, offering our clients a holistic view of market movements and emerging trends.

Direct Feeds

We work with Owners and Management Companies to feed information directly to our database in order to ensure the most timely and accurate data set available for all of our clients.

Strategic Partners

ALN Apartment Data works with several highly acclaimed and trustworthy third party sources to supplement certain data sets. By forging these partnerships, we’re able to give a more comprehensive and reliable picture of the apartment market.

Update Schedule

Information is updated during all business hours, every business day. However, data points are updated on various schedules.

Dynamic Data

Properties are contacted every 25 business days for property-level data, including rents, occupancy, floorplans, use of a RMS, renovation status, Property Manager, Area Supervisor (Regional Manager) and Management Company.

Semi-Static

Attributes not likely to change as often, such as amenities, unit mix, lease terms and hours of operation are updated as part of a rotation quarterly and annually.

New Construction

New Construction data is gathered both through primary research and 3rd party sources deemed reliable by ALN. The New Construction subset of ALN’s database is updated daily, with individual projects updated according to their progress schedule.

How Markets Are Defined

ALN markets are geographic areas within states whose boundaries are defined by ALN. While markets are based on MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) as defined by the US Bureau of Statistics, multiple MSAs are often included within one ALN market.

Each US state will have a non-contiguous ‘Outlying’ market comprised of properties within the state that are not assigned to a metropolitan ALN Market.

Markets can be further broken down into the following:

City – The area within any city proper located within a given market.

Submarket – Areas within cities that are based on US Census Bureau census tracts. Other factors are taken into consideration, such as concentration of properties and major infrastructure like an interstate highway.

Zip Code – Properties included within a zip code, or multiple zip codes.

Street Address – Any properties located on a specific street of interest.

Custom Area – Any area as defined by the user on an interactive map of the market.

Calculated Data Points

ALN uses weighted averages for all averaged fields.

Rents

Rents are reported based on the rents for each unit type on the day of update.

Average market and effective rent for a property are calculated by averaging the rents weighted by the unit mix of the property.

Average rents for geographic areas (submarkets, cities, markets, etc) are similarly weighted by unit count.

Concessions

ALN reports 3 different metrics regarding concessions.

The percentage of properties in a market that are currently offering concessions
The average concession package for the market
The average concession package amongst properties offering concessions in the market

Both average concession fields are weighted by number of units.

Price Classes and Percentile Rankings

ALN Property Classifications

Classifying multifamily properties as A, B, C & D is a traditional practice but is fraught with subjective tendencies. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Therefore, ALN uses the far less subjective concept of ‘Price Class’. While still using the A, B, C, D terminology, ALN price class is based on the percentile ranking by price per square foot for the property within the market.

Percentile Ranking

Percentile ranking is the percentage of properties in the market that are equal or below the subject property in the ranked statistic. For example, if a property has a price per square foot of $1.50 and ranks in the 90th percentile in the market, 90 percent of the properties in the market area will have a price per square foot of $1.50 or less. The property therefore ranks in the top 10% in the market for price per square foot.

ALN Price Classes

ALN delineates its price classes using the percentile rank for price per square foot in the market area.

Price Class A: 88 – 100th Percentile (top 12%)
Price Class B: 68 – 87th Percentile (next 20%)
Price Class C: 30 – 67th Percentile (next 38%)
Price Class D: 0 – 29th Percentile (bottom 30%)

ALN tracks percentile rankings for properties in the Market and submarket for all conventional properties, i.e. non-Senior, Student, or Affordable. Non-Conventional properties are not assigned a price class.

Note: in some larger ALN markets like Dallas-Ft. Worth with multiple metropolitan areas, the ‘market’ ranking may be based on the Metropolitan market within the larger ALN market (i.e., Dallas or Fort Worth)

Market Surveys

Properties Included

Properties to be included as comps can be stabilized, or not, and can include conventional property types or specialty property types.

Pseudo properties can also be created as the subject property in cases where the property is not yet built.

Specific properties can be selected as comps, or properties within a geographic range can be chosen from.

Submarket statistics are based on conventional properties within the submarket.

Term	Definition
% Occupied	The percentage of property units currently occupied.
% Leased	The percentage of property units occupied, with signed leases and move-out notices accounted for.
W/D	Washer/Dryer connection included.
NR Fee	Non-refundable administration fee paid by prospective resident.
Asterisk (*)	Any asterisk means ‘some units’. This typically applies to amenities in units.
New Construction	New construction projects for all multifamily product types. Project statuses range from pre-construction to properties that are in lease-up, but not yet stabilized. Properties that have started pre-leasing will be updated every month until stabilized. Please refer to ALN’s New Construction Report for various types of construction.
Affordable Housing	These are properties with an income cap for prospective residents to be eligible to lease.
Accepts Section 8	These properties accept HUD vouchers. The government pays part of the rent, generally as a voucher, to offset the cost of living. Rent is set by the property.
All Bills Paid	Standard utilities such as water, electricity and trash are included in the rent for these properties.
Stabilized	A property that has reached at least 85% occupancy.
Asking/Market/Quoted Rent	The monthly rate residents are charged for a 12-month lease without adjustment for concessions.
Effective Rent	The monthly rate residents are charged for a 12-month lease, accounting for the available concession package. This is the amount a property collects in rent per unit each month.
Net Absorption	The net change, positive or negative, in the number of rented units in a given geographic range.
Occupancy	The percentage of units on a property that are rented.

Glossary of Terms

Property Types

Term	Definition
Total Listings	All properties in the ALN database including all property types, sizes and market segments.
Active Listings	Multifamily properties with 50 or more units that are not HUD subsidized and are not an assisted living property. Property types include Conventional, Mixed Residential, Senior Affordable and Independent Living, Affordable Housing, and Student Housing. Only these properties are contacted for updates on ALN’s 25-business day cycle. Apart from absorption and occupancy, only conventional active listings are included in market metric calculations released by ALN.
Conventional	Multifamily properties charging market rates and are not Student, Senior, Affordable or Military housing.
Condos or Individually Owned	Properties that ALN knows to be fully individually owned condos, and do not lease. ALN does list condo units available for lease if operated as a group by a fee management firm, but units fitting that description are not included in this property type. A notation in a property’s unit mix would denote condo units for lease.
New Construction	New construction projects for all multifamily product types. Project statuses range from pre-construction to properties that are in lease-up, but not yet stabilized. Properties that have started pre-leasing will be updated every month until stabilized.
Less than 50 Units	Properties with less than 50 units. Properties that pay commissions to apartment locators are updated on ALN’s normal update schedule, those that do not pay locator commissions are updated less frequently.
Affordable Housing	These are properties with an income cap for prospective residents to be eligible to lease.
Accepts Section 8	These properties accept HUD vouchers. The government pays part of the rent, generally as a voucher, to offset the cost of living. Rent is set by the property.
Senior Independent Living	Age-restricted properties. Generally, these properties require residents to be above 55 years old, or 62+ years old.
Student Housing	Properties that rent by the bed, rather than by unit. These properties are open to the public per current Fair Housing laws, but mostly target students for their residents. ALN reports pricing both by the bed, and per unit.
All Bills Paid	Standard utilities such as water, electricity and trash are included in the rent for these properties.
Independent	Properties owned and managed by an individual investor. Generally, the investor will own only one property for this designation.
Mixed Use	Properties with a blend of residential and commercial, retail or industrial use.
Senior or Disabled Assisted Living	Properties that are age-restricted and provide generalized or specialized medical care or monitoring of residents.
Subsidized Housing	These properties are subsidized housing properties, via HUD vouchers, where rent is based on a percentage of the prospective resident’s income.
Refuse to Update	Properties that ask not to be included in ALN’s database, or that consistently update outside of our 25-business day contact window.
Onsite Student Housing	Properties owned and/or operated by an academic institution. Only students are eligible to rent at these properties.
Military Housing	Housing for military related personnel only. Generally located on military bases and privately developed.
Property Closed	Properties that have closed within the past two years remain visible in select programs for the continued inclusion of their historical data.
Garden	A property with 3 or fewer floors.
Mid-Rise	A property with 4-7 floors.
High-Rise	A property with 8 or more floors.
Build-To-Rent	Communities of single family homes that are built and managed for rent.

Other Terms

Term	Definition
Stabilized	A property that has reached at least 85% occupancy.
Asking/Market/Quoted Rent	The monthly rate residents are charged for a 12-month lease without adjustment for concessions.
Effective Rent	The monthly rate residents are charged for a 12-month lease, accounting for the available concession package. This is the amount a property collects in rent per unit each month.
Net Absorption	The net change, positive or negative, in the number of rented units in a given geographic range.
Occupancy	The percentage of units on a property that are rented.
Leased Rate	Projected occupancy based on notices to vacate and signed leases.

FAQ’s

We have multiple teams of trained researchers gathering data from publicly available sources, as well as through primary research. Our primary research is done by contacting properties and management companies across the nation, daily. In addition to these efforts, ALN leverages 3^rd party sources when they are deemed reliable, mostly for new construction data.

Presently, there are over 195,000 properties with more than 25.8 million units and 11,800+ management companies in the ALN database – and this number grows by the week. However, we identify properties that meet our research criteria, and prioritize the update of those properties. These generally include conventional multifamily properties with 50 or more units.

ALN’s database is updated all business hours, every business day. Individual properties, along with their Property Manager, Area Supervisor (Regional Manager) and Management Company are first contacted for an update on a 25-business day rotation.

Monthly market metrics are aggregated beginning on the 1^st of each month, through 12:00 midnight on the last day of each month.

ALN offers multiple platforms, each tailored to the needs of specific types of users. Visit www.alndata.com/services to see details on each program and to contact a salesperson regarding subscription information.

Just about any type of entity in the multifamily industry can, and does, use ALN’s services. Brokers, developers, lenders, appraisers, investors, public entities, suppliers, affiliates, properties, and management companies utilize ALN for market intelligence, data-driven business decisions, and lead generation.

Yes. Monthly, quarterly, and year-over-year. Please contact us for your custom quote.

Yes! Most reports can be exported into Excel for further analysis, or to a PDF for saving or printing. Custom market surveys are also available for PDF export.

ALN does not provide sales information.

Cost can vary by platform, geography and subscription length. Contact us for questions, or to request a demo.

Ready to reach new heights? Let’s get there, together.

We stand ready to partner with you not only as a data provider, but as your research team. Let us show you how our data, platforms, and support can help your business today.

Request a Live Demo

Subscribe for our free Newsletter

Don’t miss our free monthly article on topics like apartment demand, rent growth, quarterly and annual reviews, and more.

Subscribe to the newsletter

Our responsibility to our clients is to deliver the most accurate and up-to-date information possible. Whereas other data providers use market sampling methods to provide an approximated view of a geographic area, ALN conducts primary research on all properties that fit our criteria to avoid the error introduced by sampling.

Internal methodologies affecting data quality include:

A review process to identify numeric outliers as well as spelling and formatting errors.
Two links included in all ALN platforms- One to connect a client to their Account Manager, and one ‘Corrections’ link that allows a client to flag potentially incorrect information with a pre-set email that goes directly to the President of ALN.
The Account Manager contact links allows clients to quickly and easily communicate with their specific Account Manager regarding a question or issue at which point the Account Manager will act as a liaison between the client and our research teams. Error notifications, regardless of which link is used for submission, are immediately addressed.
Corrections are updated into our platforms within 48 business hours, with same-day corrections being the goal.

Information is updated during all business hours, every business day. However, data points are updated on various schedules.

Dynamic data: Properties are contacted every 25 business days for property-level data, including rents, occupancy, floorplans, use of a RMS, renovation status, Property Manager, Area Supervisor (Regional Manager) and Management Company.
Semi-Static: Attributes not likely to change as often, such as amenities, unit mix, lease terms and hours of operation are updated as part of a rotation.

New Construction data is gathered both through primary research and 3^rd party sources deemed reliable by ALN. The New Construction subset of ALN’s database is updated daily, with individual projects updated according to their progress schedule.
Research is done both from ALN’s headquarters in Dallas, Texas as well as our satellite office in Kentucky.

ALN markets are geographic areas within states whose boundaries are defined by ALN. While markets are based on MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) as defined by the US Bureau of Statistics, multiple MSAs are often included within one ALN market.

Each US state will have a non-contiguous ‘Outlying’ market comprised of properties within the state that are not assigned to a metropolitan ALN Market.

Markets can be further broken down into:

City– The area within any city proper located within a given market.

Submarket– Areas within cities that are based on US Census Bureau census tracts. Other factors are taken into consideration, such as concentration of properties and major infrastructure like an interstate highway.

Zip Code– Properties included within a zip code, or multiple zip codes.

Street Address– Any properties located on a specific street of interest.

Custom Area– Any area as defined by the user on an interactive map of the market.

ALN uses weighted averages for all averaged fields.

Rents: Rents are reported based on the rents for each unit type on the day of update. Average market and effective rent for a property are calculated by averaging the rents weighted by the unit mix of the property. Average rents for geographic areas (submarkets, cities, markets, et cetera) are similarly weighted by unit count.

Concessions: ALN reports 3 different metrics regarding concessions.

The percentage of properties in a market that are currently offering concessions
The average concession package for the market
The average concession package amongst properties offering concessions in the market

Both average concession fields are weighted by number of units.

ALN Property Classifications

Percentile Ranking

ALN Price Classes

ALN delineates its price classes using the percentile rank for price per square foot in the market area.

Price Class A: 88 – 100th Percentile (top 12%)
Price Class B: 68 – 87th Percentile (next 20%)
Price Class C: 30 – 67th Percentile (next 38%)
Price Class D: 0 – 29th Percentile (bottom 30%)

Terms

% Occupied– The percentage of property units currently occupied.

% Leased– The percentage of property units occupied, with signed leases and move-out notices accounted for.

W/D– Washer/Dryer connection included.

NR Fee– Non-refundable administration fee paid by prospective resident.

Asterisk (*)– Any asterisk means ‘some units’. This typically applies to amenities in units.

New Construction: New construction projects for all multifamily product types. Project statuses range from pre-construction to properties that are in lease-up, but not yet stabilized. Properties that have started pre-leasing will be updated every month until stabilized. Please refer to ALN’s New Construction Report for various types of construction.

Affordable Housing – These are properties with an income cap for prospective residents to be eligible to lease.

Accepts Section 8– These properties accept HUD vouchers. The government pays part of the rent, generally as a voucher, to offset the cost of living. Rent is set by the property.

All Bills Paid– Standard utilities such as water, electricity and trash are included in the rent for these properties.

Stabilized– A property that has reached at least 85% occupancy.

Asking/Market/Quoted Rent– The monthly rate residents are charged for a 12-month lease without adjustment for concessions.

Effective Rent– The monthly rate residents are charged for a 12-month lease, accounting for the available concession package. This is the amount a property collects in rent per unit each month.

Net Absorption– The net change, positive or negative, in the number of rented units in a given geographic range.

Occupancy– The percentage of units on a property that are rented.

Properties Included

Properties to be included as comps can be stabilized, or not, and can include conventional property types or specialty property types.

Pseudo properties can also be created as the subject property in cases where the property is not yet built.

Specific properties can be selected as comps, or properties within a geographic range can be chosen from.

Submarket statistics are based on conventional properties within the submarket.

Where does ALN get its information?

How many properties and management companies are in ALN’s database?

Presently, there are over 167,000 properties with more than 21.2 million units and 11,000+ management companies in the ALN database – and this number grows by the week. However, we identify properties that meet our research criteria, and prioritize the update of those properties. These generally include conventional multifamily properties with 50 or more units.

How often is the data updated?

Monthly market metrics are aggregated beginning on the 1^st of each month, through 12:00 midnight on the last day of each month.

How do I access ALN?

Who uses ALN?

Does ALN sell historical data?

Yes. Monthly, quarterly, and year-over-year. Please contact Sales@alndata.com or 1.800.643.6416 x3 for your custom quote.

Are reports available for export or hardcopy?

Yes! Most reports can be exported into Excel for further analysis, or to a PDF for saving or printing. Custom market surveys are also available for PDF export.

Does ALN list properties for sale?

ALN does not provide sales information.

What is the cost to subscribe to an ALN platform?

Cost can vary by platform, geography and subscription length. Contact Sales@alndata.com or 1.800.643.6416 x3 for questions, or to request a demo.

Property Types

Total Listings– All properties in the ALN database including all property types, sizes and market segments.

Active Listings– Multifamily properties with 50 or more units that are not HUD subsidized and are not an assisted living property. Property types include Conventional, Mixed Residential, Senior Affordable and Independent Living, Affordable Housing, and Student Housing. Only these properties are contacted for updates on ALN’s 25-business day cycle. Apart from absorption and occupancy, only conventional active listings are included in market metric calculations released by ALN.

Conventional– Multifamily properties charging market rates and are not Student, Senior, Affordable or Military housing.

Condos or Individually Owned– Properties that ALN knows to be fully individually owned condos, and do not lease. ALN does list condo units available for lease if operated as a group by a fee management firm, but units fitting that description are not included in this property type. A notation in a property’s unit mix would denote condo units for lease.

Less than 50 units– Properties with less than 50 units. Properties that pay commissions to apartment locators are updated on ALN’s normal update schedule, those that do not pay locator commissions are updated less frequently.

Affordable Housing – These are properties with an income cap for prospective residents to be eligible to lease.

Accepts Section 8– These properties accept HUD vouchers. The government pays part of the rent, generally as a voucher, to offset the cost of living. Rent is set by the property.

Senior Independent Living– Age-restricted properties. Generally, these properties require residents to be above 55 years old, or 62+ years old.

Student Housing– Properties that rent by the bed, rather than by unit. These properties are open to the public per current Fair Housing laws, but mostly target students for their residents. ALN reports pricing both by the bed, and per unit.

All Bills Paid– Standard utilities such as water, electricity and trash are included in the rent for these properties.

Independent– Properties owned and managed by an individual investor. Generally, the investor will own only one property for this designation.

Mixed Use– Properties with a blend of residential and commercial, retail or industrial use.

Senior or Disabled Assisted Living– Properties that are age-restricted and provide generalized or specialized medical care or monitoring of residents.

Subsidized Housing– These properties are subsidized housing properties, via HUD vouchers, where rent is based on a percentage of the prospective resident’s income.

Refuse to Update– Properties that ask not to be included in ALN’s database, or that consistently update outside of our 25-business day contact window.

Onsite Student Housing– Properties owned and/or operated by an academic institution. Only students are eligible to rent at these properties.

Military Housing– Housing for military related personnel only. Generally located on military bases and privately developed.

Property Closed– Properties that have closed within the past two years remain visible in select programs for the continued inclusion of their historical data.

Garden– A property with 3 or fewer floors.

Mid-Rise– A property with 4-7 floors.

High-Rise– A property with 8 or more floors.

Build-to-Rent– Contiguous communities of single family homes that are built and professionally managed for rent. Does not include non-contiguous single family homes for rent (SFR) whether professionally managed or not.

Other Terms

Stabilized– A property that has reached at least 85% occupancy or is at least 12 months removed from construction completion, whichever comes first.

Market Rent– The monthly rate residents are charged for a 12-month lease without adjustment for concessions. Also sometimes referred to as Quoted or Asking rent.

Effective Rent– The monthly rate residents are charged for a 12-month lease, accounting for the available concession package. This is the amount a property collects in rent per unit each month.

Net Absorption– The net change, positive or negative, in the number of rented units in a given geographic range.

Occupancy– The percentage of units on a property that are occupied.

Leased Rate: Projected occupancy based on notices to vacate and signed leases.