---
title: "What Is Lease-Up in Apartments? | Kihan Marketing"
description: "Lease-up is the period a new apartment community leases its units for the first time. Why its marketing is different, and what a lease-up plan needs."
url: https://kihanmarketing.com/glossary/lease-up/
published: 2026-10-16
updated: 2026-10-16
author: "Kiran Dasgupta"
---

# Lease-Up

The first leasing of a new community, and how to market it

Lease-up is the period after a new or newly renovated apartment community opens, when it leases its units for the first time, from the first move-ins until occupancy reaches the stable level the owner planned for, often called stabilization. Lease-up marketing has to create demand quickly, before the community has reviews, search history or residents to refer friends.

By [Kiran Dasgupta](https://kihanmarketing.com/kiran/), Founder and Lead Strategist

## Why is lease-up marketing different?

Because a new community has no name anyone searches for yet. In our [apartment website search benchmark](https://kihanmarketing.com/multifamily-marketing/multifamily-search-benchmark/), searches naming the community or its manager brought 88 percent of clicks with a reported search, across four apartment websites over the 90 days to October 14, 2026, in Google Search Console. A community in lease-up starts with almost none of that demand.

So it has to be found by renters who do not know it: searches for apartments in its area, for its unit types and for what makes it different. A new domain ranks slowly for those searches, which is why paid search and the Google Business Profile carry the early months while the site's own pages build up.

## What should a lease-up marketing plan include?

1. **Pages before the doors open.** A page for each floor plan, the neighborhood and the community's features, live months before the first move-in.
2. **A Google Business Profile early.** Set up and verified as soon as the leasing office has an address and hours.
3. **Paid search from the start.** Campaigns for the area and unit type searches the site cannot rank for yet, within the housing ad rules.
4. **A review process from the first move-in.** Asking every new resident, so the profile has reviews when renters compare.
5. **Tracking to a signed lease.** Leads followed through to tours and signed leases, so spend moves to what fills units.

Housing ads have their own rules. On Google, housing ads in the United States and Canada cannot target by age, gender, parental status, marital status or ZIP code, under its [personalized advertising policy](https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/143465). On Meta, they run in the housing special ad category, which limits targeting by age, gender and location.

## Related terms

- **Search intent.** [What a renter wants](https://kihanmarketing.com/glossary/search-intent/) when searching by place or unit type.
- **Owner leads.** The [owner side](https://kihanmarketing.com/glossary/owner-leads/) of a management company's marketing.
- **Google Business Profile.** The [map listing](https://kihanmarketing.com/glossary/google-business-profile/) a new community needs from day one.

We plan and run this as [apartment lease-up marketing](https://kihanmarketing.com/property-management-marketing/apartment-lease-up-marketing/). For which channel does what during lease-up, read [SEO vs Google Ads for apartments](https://kihanmarketing.com/multifamily-marketing/seo-vs-google-ads/).

## Keep reading

- [Apartment Lease-Up Marketing](https://kihanmarketing.com/property-management-marketing/apartment-lease-up-marketing/): Paid campaigns and floor plan pages for a new community's first months of leasing.
- [SEO vs Google Ads for Apartments](https://kihanmarketing.com/multifamily-marketing/seo-vs-google-ads/): Which channel an apartment community needs, in lease-up and after.
- [Owner Leads (Property Management)](https://kihanmarketing.com/glossary/owner-leads/): Inquiries from property owners looking for a manager, not renters looking for a home.