Vacancy Rate Calculator
Current vacancy %, annualized loss, and the cost of one extended turnover.
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Sam's Take
Vacancy is the silent portfolio killer. Most landlords obsess over rent increases ($25/month, $50/month) while ignoring that one extended turnover wipes out a year of those increases. A single unit vacant for 6 weeks instead of 2 weeks costs ~$1,800 at typical New England rents. Multiply by N units, you can lose $20K+/year to slow turnovers without realizing where the money went. Pre-list units 30 days before move-out, hire a turnover crew, ship it. Time literally is money here.
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What vacancy rate actually is, and why it's the silent killer
Vacancy rate is the percentage of your rental units that are sitting empty. Sounds simple. The reason it gets its own calculator is that vacancy is the single most underestimated cost in rental real estate — because it doesn't show up as a bill. Nobody sends you an invoice for the rent you didn't collect. But it shows up in your bank account at the end of the year, every year.
What's "healthy" depends on your market and asset class:
- National average: 5-7%
- Class A urban properties (newer buildings, downtown core): 3-5%
- Class C and tertiary markets (older buildings, smaller cities): 8-12%
One unit empty for one month a year is already 8.3% vacancy on a single-unit rental. That's why single-property landlords often have higher effective vacancy than big multifamily — the math is unforgiving on small numbers.
Physical vacancy vs economic vacancy — the one that matters
- Physical vacancy is the simple version: units empty divided by total units, at a point in time. If you have 10 units and 1 is empty, you have 10% physical vacancy.
- Economic vacancy is the real version: physical vacancy plus collection loss (rent owed but not paid) plus concessions (free month, reduced rent). It's expressed as a percentage of potential gross income.
Economic vacancy is what hits your cash flow. A property with 5% physical vacancy plus 2% collection loss is running at 7% economic vacancy — and that 7% is what you should be using when you underwrite new deals.
One thing to know: vacancy compounds with turnover. Every move-out costs you not just the empty days, but cleaning, paint, sometimes carpet, lock changes, advertising, application processing — and 4-6 weeks is normal between move-out and the new tenant paying. Long tenancies are gold for that reason. Treat them accordingly.