Risk & Reality

Insurance

+35%

rise in household insurance since 2019

BLS index; structural pressure from climate and reinsurance costs, not a temporary spike.

Maintenance

+42%

rise in repair labor costs since 2019

Parts rose 30% — but landlords estimate costs are up just 15%.

Damage

33%

expect at least moderate tenant damage per lease

Millennials are 2.2x more likely than average to expect significant damage.

Supply

−1.5M

single-family rentals lost since 2016 (−9.4%)

Yet PM adoption rose to 62% — a shrinking pie, but a growing slice.

Key Findings

The numbers behind what landlords feel — and what's actually happening to their costs and their market.

Expecting the Worst

33% of landlords expect at least moderate property damage over a one-year lease (58% expect minor, 9% none). Millennials are 2.2x more likely than the average landlord to expect significant damage — anxiety that drives PM adoption more than convenience does.

Will They Pay?

38% of landlords think a tenant default is likely (34% unlikely, 28% unsure). Expectations are generational: 48% of Millennials and 41% of Gen X expect default likely, versus just 12% of Boomers — Millennials are 4x more likely than Boomers to expect it.

The Insurance Crisis

The BLS household-insurance index has risen about 35% since 2019 (roughly +29% through 2024 and +35% through late 2025). Structural factors — climate risk, reinsurance costs, legal-system pressure — point to sustained pressure, not a temporary spike.

The Maintenance Perception Gap

Repair labor costs rose 42% and parts 30% since 2019 (both outpacing +26% general inflation), yet landlords estimate maintenance is up just 15%. Property Meld platform data shows per-unit spend rose 9.7% in 2024 but is now declining (−2.6% year over year in 2025) as operators use AI triage and in-house technicians (−15.8% cost) to bend the curve.

Approval Thresholds Slow Repairs

Tight approval limits carry a hidden cost. Property Meld data shows repairs requiring owner sign-off take 33.6% longer to close — an extra 1.82 days per repair on average (5.42 days with approvals vs. 3.60 without) — a gap that has held stable across six years of data.

A Shrinking Pie, a Growing Slice

The US has lost roughly 1.5 million single-family rentals since 2016 (−9.4%), and single-family homes are now only 31% of all rentals — a record low. Even so, professional management has moved from a minority practice to the majority default: 62% of small landlords now use a PM, up from industry estimates of about 30% in 2017.