Rent growth has flattened, affordability challenges persist and renters are getting savvier. Artificial intelligence tools are transforming apartment searches, and that is making the once-successful multifamily marketing playbook — throwing more money at listings and ads — obsolete, says Brian Miller, Zillow’s director of partner experience and engagement.
“The industry is at an inflection point right now,” Miller says. “Supply pressure, AI reshaping how renters search, renter behavior shifting faster than most operators’ strategies.”
Geographic resets, supply trends and rising concessions are forcing the industry to reconsider some of the field’s basic assumptions about marketing investment and approach. That includes the long-held belief that high qualification standards keep communities full at ideal ratios, such as low delinquency.
“With concessions averaging about 40% of listings, it may be time to question if longstanding criteria like that are more of a barrier,” Miller says.
Then comes AI. Since launching Zillow AI mode in March, Miller says his team has tracked big shifts in how renters vet properties. Affordability remains the top driver, he says. Renters also are diving deep much earlier, asking questions typically reserved for a tour. “Our partners are telling us renters are coming in to tour, not necessarily to find out information but to verify,” he says.
They’re self-qualifying, too. “They’re getting very vulnerable with AI in a way that they historically wouldn’t have been able to do with a traditional search bar,” Miller says. “Ultimately, they’re trying to find out if this is the right choice for them, not just if it’s a basic criteria match.”
Strategy shifts that drive results
Across the multifamily industry, all of this disruption equates to “highly scrutinized decision-making to make the most of every dollar,” Miller says. To respond, he recommends two shifts in strategy.
Evaluate performance at the local level
National data is useful as an indicator, but it shouldn’t be the basis for your strategy. Efficiency comes from digging into your own submarkets and evaluating performance at the regional and property level, Miller says.
“Data is not worth having unless you’re going to do something with it,” he says. “It has to be actionable, not just a look back. When occupancy was near 100 percent, it felt like there was less to solve, but that’s not the state of things today.”
In areas where supply has caught up and concessions are higher, for example, Miller recommends shifting your focus to building value and getting realistic about who is actually living in your properties.
Ask yourself, Miller suggests: Does what you offer accommodate their needs and their lifestyle? If there’s a lot of new supply in your market, can you adapt an older property to compete? “That could be renovations,” Miller says, “but it could also be programs to build community, or even lease policy changes.”
Put your existing data and listings to work
Operators don’t need to spend big dollars to get more data. Most already have what they need, they just aren’t using it, Miller says. Many property management companies already have strong first-party data sitting inside the software they use daily. Zillow advertising, for instance, gives operators free access not just to Zillow’s own economic, search and renter preference data, but also Moody’s Analytics market data and census data.
The fundamentals of what operators should track haven’t changed, Miller says, including comp set evaluations, comparing submarket trends to property performance and understanding how listing changes will make an impact. “It’s the same signals as we’ve always had, but now we can dissect them with more accuracy and ease,” Miller says.
That same idea applies to your listings. Are they complete, and do they include the detailed, accurate data that informs renters and serves as a strong citation for AI tools? “Don’t just set and forget,” Miller says.
Unlock brings it into focus
For multifamily operators and marketers, navigating this much change isn’t easy. “There's genuine hunger for a place to process all of that together as an industry and adapt strategy around it,” Miller says.
That hunger is one reason Unlock, Zillow’s annual multifamily industry event, has grown from a Zillow event to an industrywide gathering in recent years. “That’s something you have to earn,” Miller says, pointing to the event's focus on high-value content, networking and experience.
At Unlock 2026 in October, multifamily leaders and operators will come together to cut through the noise and build strategies for today’s market realities. Part of what sets Unlock apart is access, Miller says. Attendees will gain exclusive insight into Zillow’s proprietary data covering renter behavior, search trends and market signals that are unavailable through any other source. And they’ll leave with expert guidance from speakers on how to translate those data and findings into concrete actions on their own properties.
As agentic search reshapes how renters find their next home, sessions will dig into what that means for listing visibility, what operators need to do on the backend to keep up, and where the human side of leasing still matters most. Says Miller: “Some of the most valuable conversations at Unlock will be about where the technology helps and where it creates blind spots.”