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Published July 15, 2026
A full turn between tenants runs roughly $3,000 to $5,000 per unit once you add lost rent, and heavy turns can hit five figures.
The National Apartment Association's 2024 Income/Expense IQ survey shows vacancy and rent loss alone at $1,323 per unit annually, the fourth straight year of increases, and pegs the jump in turnover costs at about 17.5 percent year over year. Industry make-ready estimates for a single move-out commonly cluster in the low thousands of dollars per unit. Add paint, cleaning, and repairs, and a routine turn typically lands in the $3,000 to $5,000 range. A heavy turn with flooring or appliance work can run several thousand dollars more.
Most owners budget for the visible costs of a turn: cleaning, paint, maybe new carpet. The biggest line item is usually invisible until you add it up: lost rent while the unit sits empty. If your rent is $2,500 a month and the unit takes two weeks to re-lease, that is over $1,150 in rent you will never collect, often more than the paint and cleaning combined.
We track three cost buckets for every turn.
This is the physical work: cleaning, painting, carpet or flooring repair, appliance service, and any deferred maintenance the outgoing tenant's move revealed. A light touch-up turn, same tenant profile, no major wear, runs $1,500 to $3,000. A heavier turn, where you are replacing flooring or refreshing a kitchen, runs $8,000 or more.
Industry benchmarks put average days-vacant for a multifamily turn in the range of five to six weeks, though a well-run single-family or small multifamily turn should beat that badly if marketing starts before the old tenant is even out. Every day vacant is rent you do not collect. At $2,500 a month rent, each week vacant costs roughly $575.
Advertising, showings, screening, and the labor of coordinating vendors all cost money even when they do not show up as a single invoice. NAA's benchmarking shows total leasing expense per unit rose 4.6% in the most recent survey year, driven largely by rising turnover costs.
The biggest lever an owner controls is turnaround time, not turn cost. A property manager who starts marketing a unit the day notice is given, schedules the make-ready crew before move-out day, and pre-screens applicants against the move-out date can cut vacancy days dramatically, and vacancy days are where the real money leaks. Deferred maintenance is the second lever. A unit that has been patched instead of properly repaired over several tenancies tends to need a much more expensive turn eventually, all at once.
If you are budgeting for a South Bay rental this year, plan for $3,000 to $5,000 per turn on a typical unit, and treat every week of vacancy as real, recurring cost, not a rounding error. The properties that turn fastest and cheapest are the ones where the make-ready crew and the marketing start on the same day the notice comes in, not the day the old tenant hands back the keys.
If you would rather not manage that choreography yourself, that is what we do.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm with a licensed professional before you act.
Last verified: July 2026.
Topics: market, turnover, vacancy, make-ready, south bay rentals
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Schofield Properties is a family run property management company at 323 Richmond St, El Segundo, CA 90245. We have managed the South Bay since 1972 and personally oversee about 186 doors today. Book a call to talk about your property.
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