Whether you’re a frontline resident manager or an executive in a multifamily, you need precise, reliable market surveys to make data-driven decisions. Yet, the common approach—relying on private data, internal listing service (ILS) data, or information gathered through manual methods—can leave you working with incomplete, outdated, or error-filled insights. Worse, as regulatory scrutiny grows around private data-sharing practices, these methods can expose your business to legal and ethical challenges.

This year, San Francisco and Philadelphia became the first U.S. cities to ban rent-setting algorithmic software like Yardi and RealPage. Will other cities follow suit? Likely. But does this mean we need to revert to traditional methods for gathering market data? Not at all.

Fortunately, there’s a solution: public market research data. Platforms like ApartmentIQ, which use only 100% publicly sourced data, provide a powerful and compliant solution, delivering up-to-date, unbiased insights to guide everything from pricing strategies to concessions. In this post, we’ll explore how making the switch from private to public data can enhance accuracy, reduce risk, and establish a solid foundation for more strategic, sustainable growth.

Understanding the Risks of Private Data

How does private data impact your business?

Legal risks

The risks associated with private data sources are growing. San Francisco and Philadelphia banning rent-setting algorithmic software is just the beginning. Recent legal challenges, including investigations by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and municipal regulations, have raised concerns about potential antitrust violations and the misuse of nonpublic data. As the regulatory environment evolves, property owners and operators should exercise caution when selecting market research tools and ensure compliance with anti-price fixing regulations.

• DOJ antitrust investigations: Issues such as price-fixing, monopolistic practices, and exclusionary agreements have caught the attention of regulators. Companies relying on data sourced from private sources may unwittingly be exposed to antitrust violations.
• Municipal regulations: Cities and states are tightening regulations around tenant data to promote fairer housing practices. A dependence on private data sources can lead to non-compliance if these regulations continue to evolve.

Reputational risks

Using private data can put property managers in a difficult position with the potential for liability issues, potential market disruptions, and a loss of trust from tenants and business partners. In an industry where reputation means everything, even one legal misstep can have lasting financial and reputational consequences.

The Changing Landscape of Market Research

With heightened regulations and increased scrutiny, the industry is shifting toward public data sources. Just this past year, forty percent of the NMHC Top 50 moved away from private sources to take advantage of the reliability, accuracy, and compliance that public data provides.

Why should you use public data?

Public data is quickly becoming the new standard for market research collection. It’s accessible to all, ethically sourced, and includes all your essential metrics such as rental prices, unit availability, occupancy rates, concessions, and more. Beyond just the federal and municipal compliance risks detailed above, public data also allows users to obtain more accurate real-time and historical data, while automating data collection for a more efficient and less manual-intensive process.

Why should your public data be sourced from property websites?

ApartmentIQ creates its daily market surveys using only 100% public data sourced from property websites. The platform’s automated system crawls thousands of property websites in real-time, delivering precise, up-to-date insights down to the unit level. Property websites are the ideal source of public data because they target potential renters, meaning the information must stay current and competitive. In contrast, government databases and third-party real estate platforms often update less frequently and may lack property-level detail.

On the other hand, ILS data providers source data mainly from third-party listing sites rather than directly from property websites. This indirect approach can compromise data accuracy, as these providers “scrape” data from listings that are often outdated. Relying on these advertisement sites for market insights risks aggregating incomplete or stale information, which can lead to a less reliable user experience and subpar data quality.

The Advantages of Using Public Data in Market Research

Switching to public data offers a range of benefits that extend beyond compliance, helping your business make data-driven decisions with confidence. By using AI technology  to crawl thousands of property websites, users gain four key advantages.

Transparency

One of the greatest advantages of public data is its transparency. Public data is available to everyone, so it promotes transparency in market research and ensures that all information remains unbiased. By contrast, private data is often proprietary and can reflect the motivations of those who collect it. This lack of transparency can result in skewed or incomplete market insights, potentially leading decision-makers astray.

ApartmentIQ sources from only public property websites and the work is completed by AI, so you can have full confidence your data is free from human error and biases.

Real-time insights

Public data accesses real-time information and updates on everything from unit availability to current pricing and concessions, allowing property managers to make decisions based on what’s happening in the market right now. In a competitive multifamily landscape where pricing and availability can rapidly change, this is a critical advantage. Private data, on the other hand, is often outdated, capturing only a single point in time. Relying solely on such static, outdated data makes it hard to respond to market shifts effectively, putting your business a step behind.

ApartmentIQ provides clients with daily market surveys, so you know what’s happening at all times, leading to smarter decisions when it matters most.

Wider market coverage

Public data scans a wide variety of property websites, which gives a more complete picture of the market. This broad scope means property managers get to see the full landscape, allowing them to benchmark against a larger pool of competitors. Private data sources are usually more limited, only showing information from select partners or proprietary sources, which can leave property managers with a narrow or incomplete view.

ApartmentIQ is the first multifamily data analysis platform to provide property managers with up to four years of daily historical data, This unit-level competitor data will help you understand market and seasonal trends like never before.

Ethical considerations

In addition to its practical advantages, public data also brings an ethical advantage by promoting transparency and fair practices in data collection. At a time when legal scrutiny over data use is growing, relying on public data offers a safer path that aligns with ethical standards and builds trust. This worry-free, compliant approach reassures stakeholders and tenants that your business values responsible data practices.

With ApartmentIQ, you never need to worry about where your data is coming from. Rest assured you’re receiving ethically sourced data that is never from private sources or ILS providers.

The Challenges of Using Public Data in Market Research (And How to Overcome Them)

Making the switch to public data is bigger than just changing where your data comes from—it’s about adopting new tools and processes that let you fully capitalize on this resource. ApartmentIQ is built to not only help multifamily organizations adopt public data but also overcome common challenges in working with public data.

Ultimately, ApartmentIQ clients are making more confident, impactful decisions that build trust and drive success, ultimately leading to increased return on investment and revenue growth.

Unified data access

The challenge with public data is that it often comes from many different sources, which can be overwhelming and time-consuming to navigate. ApartmentIQ addresses this by pulling all relevant data into one platform, creating a unified space for accurate, consolidated reports. This eliminates the need for manual sifting, allowing your team to focus on the insights rather than the process of gathering them.

Ensuring data quality and reliability

Not all public data is created equal. Some sources, such as ILS providers, can provide outdated or unreliable information. ApartmentIQ resolves this by exclusively pulling from property websites, the highest-quality source that ensures your data is up-to-date and accurate. This emphasis on data quality helps property managers avoid potential issues with inaccurate or stale information, giving your team a trusted foundation for making decisions.

Data interpretation for all users

Understanding raw data can be challenging, especially for team members with limited experience in data analysis. ApartmentIQ makes interpretation easy with visualization tools and user-friendly dashboards that transform complex data into clear, actionable insights. This accessibility ensures that everyone on your team can confidently work with the data, regardless of their level of expertise.

User-friendly technology

New platforms can sometimes come with a steep learning curve, requiring time and training to fully utilize. ApartmentIQ’s interface is intuitive and transparent, backed by a full-service onboarding experience and a dedicated client success manager. This combination ensures your team will be up and running on day one, empowering everyone in your organization to access and interpret public data without unnecessary complexity.

When your team has reliable, fair, and easy-to-use public data at their fingertips, your organization benefits from a competitive edge, an enhanced reputation, and consistent success.

Section 5: How One Multifamily Company Made the Switch

A mid-market property recently made the switch from private to public data to get more reliable, accurate market survey information. Before the switch, they relied on a private data provider, which required their onsite teams to manually complete surveys each week. This process was not only time-consuming but also left them with inconsistent data and gaps, making it hard for asset management and marketing teams to understand their market position or make confident revenue decisions. The data issues held back their decision-making and made it tough to jump on growth opportunities when they came up.

They decided on ApartmentIQ because it provides daily, unit-level data accuracy—exactly what they needed to leave behind those labor-intensive surveys and patchy data. Now, with ApartmentIQ in place, they have a reliable data stream that supports precision in pricing and smoother, more efficient market analysis. This streamlined approach is helping them to make well-informed decisions faster and with greater confidence, marking a significant improvement over their previous, fragmented processes with private data.

Conclusion

With the growing legal and regulatory pressures surrounding private data, along with the increased inaccuracies of ILS data, it’s essential for multifamily businesses to seek out safer, more effective alternatives that maintain data accuracy and uphold ethical standards. Transitioning to a multifamily data analysis platform like ApartmentIQ, which uses only 100% public data, not only minimizes legal risks but also empowers your team to make better decisions, keep your business competitive, and drive long-term financial growth.

Are you ready to make the switch? Download the free Multifamily Advantage Report to discover how to get started with a public data analysis platform and position your team for long-term success.