The renter of 2025 is not the renter of 2015. Their expectations have fundamentally shifted and multifamily owners and operators who fail to recognize that shift are already falling behind.

Across the industry, the same story keeps playing out: a beautifully designed rooftop lounge sits empty on a Tuesday night. A bowling alley collects dust. A golf simulator that cost six figures to install gets used three times a month. Meanwhile, residents are quietly filing non-renewals, and leasing teams can’t quite figure out why.

The answer isn’t a mystery. The modern renter doesn’t want more square footage dedicated to things they rarely use. They want convenience, flexibility, community, and sustainability and they want it woven into the fabric of their everyday lives. Not just during the tour. Every single day they live in your building.

What Today’s Renters Actually Want

 

1. Convenience That’s Real, Not Just a Selling Point

The rise of on-demand culture, from DoorDash to same-day delivery, has permanently reset resident expectations. Renters today want to solve everyday problems without leaving the building. Whether it’s grabbing a vacuum before guests arrive, borrowing a power drill for a quick fix, or picking up a midnight snack, the expectation is that their building works for them, not just around them.

The 2024 NMHC and Grace Hill Renter Preferences Survey, the industry’s most comprehensive renter study with over 172,000 respondents, reinforces this clearly. Renters consistently ranked practical, everyday features above aspirational luxury ones. As the report summarizes, the three Cs driving leasing decisions today are comfort, convenience, and connectivity. Convenience amenities that require planning, scheduling, or a trip offsite simply don’t register the way they used to.

2. Flexibility Over Ownership

Gen Z and Millennial renters, who now make up the overwhelming majority of the multifamily market, have grown up in a world where you don’t need to own something to use it. Streaming replaced buying. Uber replaced car ownership. Why would their relationship with household goods be any different?

The data backs this up: according to Inman’s September 2025 analysis of Gen Z renting trends, 72% of Gen Z renters believe renting is smarter than buying — and their reasoning goes beyond economics. Flexibility, mobility, and the freedom to allocate money toward experiences rather than possessions are driving forces. Meanwhile, Arbor Realty’s research confirms that Gen Z is currently the only generation still actively adding rental households, and is projected to become the largest renter demographic in America by 2030.

These renters are highly mobile. They move cities for jobs, relationships, and lifestyle. The last thing they want is to accumulate a garage’s worth of appliances and tools they’ll have to move or throw away in 18 months. Shared access models aren’t just attractive to this demographic, they’re preferred.

3. Sustainability as a Standard, Not a Bonus

Environmental consciousness has moved from a “nice to have” to a dealbreaker for a growing segment of renters. According to Inman, 50% of Gen Z renters now expect their landlords and property managers to demonstrate genuine ESG commitments, energy efficiency, sustainability practices, and transparency, not just talk about them. The National Apartment Association goes further, noting that “sustainability is the new amenities race”, with Gen Z consumers actively cutting ties with brands and buildings that don’t align with their environmental values.

Renters want to feel good about where they live and that includes knowing their building isn’t encouraging mindless consumption or unnecessary waste. Shared resource models, reduced individual ownership, and eco-conscious amenities are no longer niche selling points. They’re becoming baseline expectations.

4. Community, Not Just Proximity

Post-pandemic renters have an evolved relationship with community. They’re not just looking for neighbors — they’re looking for a building culture that fosters connection. As the National Apartment Association reports, “purpose-driven engagement — sustainability, inclusivity, and mental wellness — matters deeply to Gen Z. Communities that align with these values are more likely to keep Gen Z engaged beyond the lease.”

The amenities that succeed aren’t the ones that impress on a tour. They’re the ones that residents interact with repeatedly, talk about with friends, and feel proud to show off. That word-of-mouth is worth more than any leasing brochure.

5. Tech-Enabled Living

Today’s residents expect smart, seamless technology in their building — not just in their unit. And the stakes are high: the NMHC survey found that 92% of renters who work remotely consider free building Wi-Fi essential, and 63% of renters factor mobile connectivity into their leasing decision when touring a property. Keyless access, package lockers, resident apps, and AI-powered services are quickly becoming standard. Buildings that still rely on analog, labor-intensive systems are struggling to compete for tech-savvy renters who expect everything to be connected and effortless.

The Problem With the Current Amenity Arms Race

The multifamily industry has responded to shifting renter preferences with a well-intentioned but increasingly flawed strategy: build bigger, build flashier, build more.

Rooftop cinemas. Virtual golf. Pickleball courts. Wine storage. Speakeasies.

These amenities aren’t inherently bad. But they share a common problem: they require significant capital investment, carry high ongoing maintenance costs, and — critically — they don’t solve the everyday friction points that actually determine whether a resident renews their lease.

The AppFolio 2025 Renter Preferences Report, which surveyed over 2,000 renters, found that satisfied residents are 73% more likely to renew their lease — and that satisfaction is driven by consistent, daily quality of life, not by amenities that look good in marketing photos. A separate Multi-Housing News analysis of the RCKRBX National Renter Demand Index found that since the pandemic, safety, security, and everyday living quality have overtaken luxury perks as the top factors in renter decision-making.

When a resident decides whether to stay or go, they’re rarely thinking about whether your building has a better rooftop pool than the building across the street. They’re thinking about whether they like living there. Whether it feels easy. Whether they feel seen and supported.

That’s a very different problem to solve and it requires a very different kind of amenity strategy.

How TULU Is Meeting Renters Where They Are

This is precisely the gap that TULU was designed to fill.

Born at MIT’s DesignX incubator and now operating in more than 60 cities across North America, the UK, and Europe, TULU is an in-building smart amenity platform that gives residents on-demand access to the everyday items they actually need — right inside their building, available 24/7.

Think vacuum cleaners, gaming consoles, power tools, Dyson hair dryers, air mattresses for guests, e-scooters, print services, and everyday consumables, all accessible through a mobile app, available in seconds, without ever leaving the building.

Here’s how TULU directly addresses the preferences reshaping the rental market:

1. Real Convenience, Every Day

TULU units are installed directly in the building, converting underused space into a curated, accessible micro-store. Residents can browse, book, and pick up items in minutes through the TULU app. There’s no scheduling, no waiting, no trips to a store. It’s the kind of convenience that residents use on a Thursday night as much as a Saturday morning — and that consistent, daily value is exactly what drives the retention numbers that matter to operators.

2. Access Over Ownership — Built Into the Building

TULU operationalizes the sharing economy at the property level. Instead of every resident buying their own vacuum, drill, or gaming setup, the building provides shared access to high-quality items on demand. This directly answers what the data tells us Gen Z and Millennial renters want: access without the burden of ownership. It reduces clutter, lowers the cost of living for residents, and makes the building dramatically more appealing to the mobile, minimalist renters who dominate today’s market.’

3. Sustainability Baked In

TULU’s shared-use model is fundamentally aligned with ESG goals. By reducing individual consumption and promoting shared access over personal ownership, TULU helps properties reduce their environmental footprint and meet sustainability targets, all while offering residents the eco-conscious living experience they’re increasingly demanding. For property operators navigating investor and regulatory ESG requirements, TULU is a meaningful and measurable contribution to those goals.

4. Community and Connection

When residents use TULU, they’re interacting with a shared resource and with each other. The platform creates natural touchpoints for organic community-building within the building. Residents bring friends down to check it out. They recommend it to new neighbors. They talk about it. That sense of pride and shared experience contributes to the building culture that keeps people renewing.

In fact, 78% of residents rate TULU as their favorite building amenity, and 82% say they would be disappointed if TULU were no longer available. Those aren’t the numbers of a passive, check-the-box amenity. That’s genuine resident love, the kind that shows up as lease renewals and referrals.

5. AI-Powered and Data-Driven

TULU’s intelligent platform analyzes real-time usage data to continuously refine and tailor its offerings, ensuring the items available in each building reflect the specific needs and preferences of that building’s residents. Property operators gain access to behavioral insights and usage analytics they’ve never had before, enabling smarter decisions about amenity investment and resident engagement.

And for operators worried about implementation complexity: TULU can be installed in as little as 10 days, with maintenance handled seamlessly by TULU’s team.

The Bottom Line for Multifamily Operators

The renters moving into your buildings today have grown up with on-demand everything. They value flexibility over ownership, access over accumulation, and community over convenience theater. They want buildings that make their everyday lives easier, not buildings that impress them once and then disappear into the background.

The amenity strategy that wins the next decade of multifamily leasing isn’t about adding more. It’s about adding smarter. It’s about identifying the friction points that exist in your residents’ everyday lives and solving them in ways that are actually used, actually valued, and actually drive loyalty.

TULU’s partners, including industry leaders like Greystar, Bozzuto, and Blackstone, have already recognized what the data is showing: residents who have TULU stay longer, refer more, and feel more connected to the communities they live in.

The question isn’t whether renter preferences have changed. They have. The question is whether your building is ready to meet them. Talk to our team and see what a customized unit in your building would look like here.