When non-pet owners were asked what their top three pet-related concerns are, it wasn’t fear, aggression or biting that topped the list. It was nuisance issues such as pet waste, excessive barking and unleashed dogs that perturb them the most.
Survey data indicates that an overwhelming 71% of residents support charging higher pet fees for irresponsible pet ownership. This includes failure to pick up after pets and repeated off-leash instances. It also factors in pet misbehavior, such as incessant barking and aggressive behavior.
This week’s top multifamily storylines include ways to make housing more affordable, product knowledge in leasing, addressing the package management burden, construction delays continue, questioning the suburban push and caring for pet-owning residents.
Inside this issue of the multifamily Industry Trends Report: making business intelligence intelligent, mixed response to Texas lifting mask mandate, residents citing pets as the reason they had to move, NMHC’s expanded commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, the merger of RPM and CF Real Estate Services and single-family rental values.
According to the Multifamily Pet Policies and Amenities Survey recently released by PetScreening and J Turner Research, 26% of pet-owning respondents indicated they acquired their pet during the pandemic. The rate climbs to 39% when narrowing down to student-only respondents.
Data from the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative reveals nearly one in four apartment residents say their pet has been a reason for needing to move. The 24% figure translates to approximately 5.5 million renting households that have been displaced or voluntarily sought a new home as a result of their pet.
The top multifamily storylines this week include: how pandemic adjustments are reshaping the industry, how to create a synergistic company culture, remembering non-pet owners when crafting policies, how boredom in the burbs may help downtown rebound, property managers on the road to getting vaccinated, and why Facebook Pixel is something to care about for marketers.
Many apartment operators have worked diligently to improve their pet-friendliness levels. And if pet friendliness wasn’t already a primary focus, it definitely should be now. New data indicates that the well-documented spike in pet adoption during the pandemic has made an impact in the apartment world.
At many apartment communities, rules pertaining to pet size are written as clearly as the “no parking” restrictions in handicapped spaces. But unlike the latter, the pet-size restrictions don’t make very much sense. The perception is that larger breeds will inherently cause more damage.
For decades, pet policies were something of a cookie-cutter concept at apartment communities: Only certain breeds, only certain sizes and a limit of one or two pets per household. Those standard policies, have become antiquated as pet owners constitute one of the fastest growing segments in rental housing.