Apartment List Product Highlights 2025: A Year in Review

This past year underscored the speed at which the multifamily industry continues to evolve.

Throughout the rental industry, AI dominated headlines and features launched rapidly. Yet across the market, renters continued to seek clarity, operators looked for greater control, and teams felt the strain when systems failed to work together.

At Apartment List, our focus remained grounded in outcomes. We built on years of foundational work, applying AI where it meaningfully improves decision-making, strengthens trust, and drives performance across the rental journey.

Rather than treating AI as a novelty layer, we used it as connective tissue. The goal was simple: help renters navigate complexity with confidence while giving operators the visibility, efficiency, and leverage they need to perform at scale.

In this blog, we look back at the areas of progress from the past year:

• Renter-facing innovations designed to help people search, compare, and decide with greater confidence.
• Partner-facing innovations that gave leasing, property management, and marketing teams clearer insight, stronger control, and better performance at scale.

Renter-Facing Product Updates

Improvements that Help Renters Search, Understand pricing, and Make Confident Decisions

Renters arrive at the search process more informed than ever, but not necessarily more confident. That uncertainty shows up downstream as slower decisions, weaker intent signals, and more work for leasing teams.

Our renter-facing updates focus on reducing that friction early in the journey. By improving transparency and guiding renters at key moments, these innovations help renters move forward with greater clarity while delivering more qualified, ready-to-act demand to property management companies and operators.

What Is AI-Led Search on Apartment List?

AI-Led Search builds on years of proprietary matchmaking to deliver a smarter, adaptive, renter-first experience. Rather than forcing renters to do the work, our AI-powered search proactively connects them with the right options at the right moments, helping bridge gaps across discovery, decision-making, and action.

By combining transparency with intelligent guidance, AI-Led Search helps renters move forward with clarity while quietly improving the quality and readiness of demand delivered to our partners.

This is not new for us. Apartment List has been building AI for renting long before it became a trend, and in 2025 we continued refining how it delivers real, measurable outcomes across the rental journey.

How Fee Transparency and Total Price Help Renters Make Confident Decisions

Renters are no longer willing to guess what a lease will actually cost. In 2025, Apartment List introduced Total Price and a Fee Calculator to surface monthly and move-in costs upfront, including utilities, deposits, and fees.

For renters, this transparency builds trust and confidence. For operators, it drives stronger engagement and smoother leasing.

Properties that adopted Fee Transparency saw:

• 20% more photo views.
• 40% higher tour booked or requested rates.
• 10% more interests (likes).

Clear fees lead to clearer expectations, fewer surprises, and better outcomes on both sides of the transaction.

How Match AI Guides Renters From Early Search to Tour Booking

Match AI continues to be the engine quietly powering renter engagement behind the scenes. Designed to support early-stage renters, Match AI prompts the right actions at the right moments using insights, behavioral signals, and social proof to keep renters moving forward.

In 2025 alone:

• Over 32M leads were handled by Match AI.
• More than 376K tours were booked directly through its guidance.

By nurturing renters over time, Match AI helps deliver more ready-to-move prospects to communities, improving efficiency and conversion without adding workload for onsite teams.

Partner-Facing Product Updates

Partner-Facing Product Updates That Support Smarter Leasing and Operations

Leasing and property management teams are being asked to do more with less, while expectations for speed, responsiveness, and performance continue to rise. Disconnected systems and manual workflows only add to that pressure.

Our partner-facing updates focus on consolidation, automation, and control. Together, they give teams clearer visibility across the funnel, reduce operational drag, and help operators act with greater confidence and precision across leasing, renewals, maintenance, and marketing.

A-List Portal: Centralized Lead Information and AI Conversations

The A-List Portal is the foundation of that work. It centralizes lead information and AI-powered conversations in one place, giving teams clear visibility across the funnel and the context they need to act quickly and confidently.

Our conversational AI delivers warm, human-like email engagement that meets renters where they are. Backed by millions of real interactions, it increases tour scheduling, boosts tour-to-lease conversion, and helps fill vacancies faster, while giving teams valuable time back.

With all lead details and AI conversations housed in a single system, leasing teams can follow up faster, stay aligned across workflows, and engage renters more effectively without added manual effort.

Maintenance AI and Renewals AI for Operational Efficiency

Operational efficiency and resident experience are deeply connected. In 2025, we expanded AI support beyond leasing into maintenance and renewals.

• Maintenance AI provides 24/7 intelligent support, handling request intake and delivering immediate responsiveness. By managing communication, it frees teams to focus on resolution while improving satisfaction and consistency.
• Renewals AI automates and personalizes the renewals process with GenAI-powered outreach, instant FAQ responses, and insights into resident behavior. The result is higher renewal rates, reduced manual effort, and a smoother experience for residents and staff alike.

AI Summaries for Faster Lead Qualification and Follow-Up

Leasing teams do not need more transcripts. They need clarity. AI Summaries automatically convert renter conversations into concise, actionable insights inside the A-List Portal.

Agents receive instant context around preferences, questions, qualifications, and follow-up needs. This allows them to engage faster and more personally without combing through full conversation histories.

A-List Nurture Spanish for Multilingual Leasing Engagement

Leasing teams do not need more transcripts. They need clarity. AI Summaries automatically convert renter conversations into concise, actionable insights inside the A-List Portal.

Agents receive instant context around preferences, questions, qualifications, and follow-up needs. This allows them to engage faster and more personally without combing through full conversation histories.

LIFT Self-Service: Manage Premium Search Placement in Real Time

This year, A-List partners gained self-serve LIFT management directly within the portal. Teams can now:

• Fully manage and update LIFT enrollments
• Access real-time competitive bidding
• Adjust strategy on their own timeline

LIFT Self-Service puts control back in the hands of operators, allowing them to respond quickly to market dynamics and competitive pressure.

Apartment List and What Comes Next in 2026

The work outlined here reflects both this year in review, and it points to where renting is headed.

As renter expectations evolve and operating environments become more complex, the advantage increasingly comes from connection: clearer demand signals, systems that work together, and tools that reduce friction rather than add to it. Apartment List’s focus remains on building those connections across the rental journey, from how renters search and decide to how operators manage performance at scale.

Looking ahead, we will continue investing in renter-first innovation, operator-driven control, and a growing ecosystem of partnerships that make renting more transparent, efficient, and adaptable. Not as disconnected features, but as a platform designed to help teams respond faster, operate smarter, and perform with confidence in changing market conditions.

If you are thinking about how to strengthen your leasing strategy, improve operational efficiency, or prepare for what renters will expect next, we would welcome the conversation. Get in touch to learn how Apartment List can support your portfolio and help you move forward with clarity.