How to Increase and Grow Multifamily NOI Without Raising Rent

Learn four ways to increase NOI at your multifamily properties by improving revenue streams and reducing operating expenses. 

As a multifamily professional, we know you obsess over ways to improve Net Operating Income (NOI) at your properties. After all, increasing a property’s NOI is a key metric for driving property value. So how do you improve NOI when raising rent isn’t an option? It’s time to shine a light on your expenses. We’ve gathered strategies for revenue improvement and cost cutting that are not always obvious and can still help you hit your goals.

The importance of NOI in property management

When managing a multifamily portfolio, every dollar counts. Income is a key metric to tracking fiscal success for any property. However, operating expenses are equally as important. A financially healthy portfolio will look at both revenue and expenses to determine profitability. This is where NOI comes in; total income minus operating expenses equals net operating income.

In order to boost NOI, the obvious first tactic is to increase revenue. However, while it’s wise to regularly optimize your revenue streams, it’s equally vital to prioritize cutting costs and recouping expenses.

Reducing expenses and improving cash flow disruptions can increase NOI

Running a property comes with a long list of expenses. Luckily, that means you have countless opportunities to recoup dollars and build NOI. Here are four strategies to increase NOI without raising rent prices.

1. Address pay delinquencies – such as Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) and rent returns, chargebacks, and late or lost rental payments – to protect vital revenue.
2. Keep valuable expense payments on schedule to dodge avoidable late charges and costly penalties.
3. Pinpoint and prevent utility waste using robust expense management and intelligent utility reporting tools.
4. Boost your renter retention to cut down on expensive turnover costs.

FREE GUIDE

The Multifamily Money Movement Playbook

Money movement refers to the flow of funds into and out of a property. When funds move smoothly, you can reduce operational inefficiencies, optimize cash flow, and ensure long-term financial stability. Read this playbook to learn key strategies to unlock revenue and optimize expense streams.

Start reading

Four ways to protect and accelerate your revenue to grow NOI

The largest income generator for properties is rent, but when increasing rent isn’t an option, there are other factors that can encourage NOI growth.

#1: Address pay delinquencies to protect your revenue streams

As a multifamily operator, you’re likely very familiar with the headache of NSFs, rent returns, and chargebacks. These interruptions in rent payments prevent crucial revenue from flowing seamlessly into your properties. Fortunately, there are strategies to mitigate these cash flow blockers – helping to protect rent receivables and increase your multifamily NOI.

• Thwart NSF and rent returns with a digital payment solution that includes real-time bank verification. These built-in automated checkpoints verify resident bank account details and balances during the payment process. If information is incorrect, or an account lacks sufficient funds, your resident will be informed during the transaction.

This gives them time to correct banking info or otherwise transfer funds appropriately. By proactively authenticating bank details, your properties are protected from fraud, late payments, and lost revenue.

• Defend against chargebacks with clear resident communication and verified payments. Chargebacks occur when a resident accidentally, or intentionally, files a claim with their bank to reverse a charge. For example, a prospect may file a chargeback claim on their apartment application fee if they don’t end up living at the property. This means crucial income such as rent payments can potentially be reversed. To mitigate these risks, the first step is providing clear and transparent resident communication. Prospects and renters should always be told ahead of time when to expect a charge.

Additionally, encouraging verified payments such as cash and money orders will protect against chargebacks because these payment types are not linked to a bank account. Don’t worry – collecting paper payments doesn’t mean you must forego digital transactions. A reliable pay vendor will provide options to easily digitize payments, enabling residents to pay their way without increasing manual lift for your team.

• Finally, you can eliminate lost or late rent payments overall by offering rent reminders and flexible payment options. One of the simplest solutions to pay delinquency is notifying residents. Alerting residents about rent deadlines ahead of time allows them to make necessary preparations (e.g. double checking their payment info or opting into AutoPay.) Giving residents the ability to take proactive measures results in expected charges and less disputes.

In addition to clear communication, consider offering flexible payment options to residents. Installment plans enable residents to pay at a pace that is comfortable for them. Flexible payments are a win-win solution for property managers, too. Through a reliable payment vendor, properties still receive full rent amounts upfront while their residents can pay in installments. This is a great solution for ensuring smooth, predictable income, and building NOI long-term.

#2: Keep valuable expense payments on schedule

When working towards increasing multifamily NOI, property expenses are just as important a priority as revenue. If your property’s payment to the utility provider is late, or you don’t pay out security deposit refunds on time, you’re at risk of non-compliance and costly penalties. Here are a few tips for improving NOI with on-time expense payments.

• Avoid late utility charges by leveraging technology to streamline your property’s utility management. Automation tools can receive invoices, generate accurate resident bills, and pay suppliers on time – helping you prevent delays that disrupt cash flow and impact NOI.

Additionally, prebill solutions estimate resident charges using historical data, allowing staff to stay ahead of late invoices and make quick adjustments once final bills arrive. With these tools in place, properties can maintain consistent billing cycles, reduce penalties, and free up time for staff. The takeaway here is that with smoother utility operations, your properties spend less time and dollars manually processing utilities and managing costly mistakes.

• Automate security deposit refunds to streamline move-outs and protect your property’s bottom line. By digitizing the refund process, operators can eliminate manual check preparation, avoid mailing delays, and ensure payouts meet strict state deadlines. These measures reduce labor costs and expensive errors. Automation also keeps cash flow moving by accelerating security deposit returns, thus preventing delays in unit turnover and new lease revenue.

With on-time expense resolution, properties can increase NOI while simplifying the move-out process.

#3: Pinpoint and prevent utility waste

Inefficient utility management often leads to unrecovered costs from billing errors, gaps between usage and charges, or unnoticed leaks. By optimizing recoupment, properties can avoid unnecessary expenses and increase multifamily NOI without raising rent.

• Maximize utility recoupment by embracing digital utility management solutions. Automation tools can accurately calculate resident usage, generate precise bills, and flag anomalies like sudden spikes or submeter issues. These insights allow teams to correct problems before they become costly.

Multifamily teams can further recoup dollars by recovering utility costs that might otherwise be lost during vacancy periods or move-ins. By reducing waste and capturing every eligible dollar, properties can maintain smooth cash flow, cut operating expenses, and increase NOI with less manual effort.

#4: Boost renter retention to cut down on turnover costs

Our research shows that turnover costs can amount to a whopping $4,000 per unit. High turnover can be detrimental to the long-term profitability of any rental portfolio. With that in mind, property managers should focus on improving renter retention in order to increase multifamily NOI. We’ve found that the best way to achieve healthy retention rates is to prioritize the resident experience.

• Eliminate manual resident management by offering digital self-service tools, such as electronic maintenance requests, to enhance the day-to-day living experience for renters. In our 2025 Resident Experience Management Report, we found that renter expectations around digital self-service options increased from 14% to 18% between 2024 and 2025.

This same report highlighted that residents placed high value on apartment essentials, such as property maintenance and security, rather than luxury amenities. A mobile community app is a great way to offer essential convenience to renters while lifting key manual tasks, such as maintenance requests, off onsite teams. With a community app, you can boost retention rates at your property while cutting time spent on operations – doubling efforts towards increasing NOI.

By implementing these strategies, multifamily operators can recover revenue, reduce costs, and maintain steady cash flow – driving long-term NOI growth across their portfolio.

Start maximizing NOI with smarter multifamily operations

Driving NOI growth doesn’t always require raising rent. It requires smart, efficient operations. By automating revenue protection, optimizing utility management, and reducing costly turnover, properties can capture every available dollar and strengthen long-term profitability.