60% of Multifamily Managers Encounter Financial Discrepancies

A new industry survey conducted by the Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation (CRETI) and SurfaceAI highlights widespread financial discrepancies in multifamily property management, exposing key inefficiencies in lease and rent roll accuracy. The survey, which gathered responses from 325 property management professionals across the United States, found that 60% of respondents encounter financial discrepancies monthly, while 40% experience them quarterly.

The findings underscore a critical challenge in the industry: billing errors are the most common source of discrepancies, cited by 100% of property managers surveyed. These errors—ranging from incorrect rent charges and misapplied amenity fees to duplicate invoices—are not isolated incidents but systemic issues that impact portfolio performance, operational efficiency, and NOI.

Key Survey Findings:
60% of property managers encounter financial discrepancies monthly; 40% experience them quarterly.

100% of respondents identified billing errors as the leading source of discrepancies, highlighting the prevalence of misapplied rent adjustments, fee inconsistencies, and manual entry mistakes.

Manual reconciliation remains a major challenge, with property managers citing human error as a persistent cause of inaccuracies in lease and rent roll data.

“These survey results confirm what many in the industry already know—financial and leasing discrepancies in multifamily operations are a systemic issue, not just an occasional mistake,” said Jason Wallis, CEO at SurfaceAI. “The reliance on outdated reconciliation processes leads to inefficiencies that cost property managers time, money, and trust. AI-powered automation presents a clear opportunity to eliminate these errors and drive financial accuracy at scale.”

Moving Beyond Chatbots: The Role of AI Agents in Financial Automation
The survey findings also reinforce the limitations of traditional chatbots, which have been widely adopted in property management but fail to address core financial inefficiencies, adding to an owner or manager's cost.  While chatbots assist with tenant inquiries, they do not detect errors, analyze financial data, or automate reconciliation processes.

In contrast, AI Agents—intelligent, decision-making automation systems—are transforming financial operations by:

  • Automatically auditing lease and rent roll data to flag discrepancies before they escalate.

  • Identifying and correcting billing errors in real time, reducing revenue leakage.

  • Eliminating manual reconciliation efforts, freeing up property teams to focus on higher-value tasks.

“The future of property management technology will be driven by AI automation that delivers measurable financial impact,” said Ashkan Zandieh, Managing Director at CRETI. “This survey highlights the need for next-generation AI solutions that proactively prevent errors rather than reactively fixing them.”

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