Rent & Vacancy Data

There is an interesting new source of aggregated leasing data that is being offered by Realty DataTrust called PadZing.com. I haven't had the opportunity to preview all of the data, and it looks like the official launch is a month or two away, but I really like the business premise and how it adds value to the core business.

Real-time, aggregated data on 900,000 units and you don't have to be a customer to access the information. Getting information direct from the property management systems is also a critical piece that would appear to make this data extremely relevant to users.

Given the fragmentation of our market it is always difficult for one firm to get a representative sample at the local and national level so I will be paying close attention to what Mike Mueller and his team bring to market in the coming months. Compared to other industries we are still far behind in this area and more quality sources can only be helpful to all who do business in multifamily housing.

Regardless of the firm's success at selling subscriptions, I think this public data offering will build value for the Realty DataTrust business model. There is definitely something to be studied here for other multifamily vendors.