TL;DR:
- The Verdict: 2025 proved that centralization can be a primary driver of NOI growth where paired with the right automation technology.
- The Numbers: Operators who centralized both Leasing and Admin functions saw an average NOI increase of $380 per unit per year according to internal benchmarks in the EliseAI platform and data shared with our consulting team.
- The "Network Effect": Data reveals that centralizing multiple functions yields a benefit greater than the sum of its parts, compounding returns as more functions are brought under a centralized umbrella.
- Real-World Impact: EliseAI case studies, like the one we published showcasing Villa Serena Communities’ centralization success story, show how operators are able to achieve $700+ per unit per year NOI through bad debt reduction, payroll savings, and occupancy rate increases.
If 2024 was the year of talking about centralization, 2025 was the year of proving it.
At EliseAI, we have spent the last year working alongside dozens of portfolios—spanning REITs, owner-operators, and fee managers managing anywhere from 1,000 to 100,000+ units—to transform their operations. The goal? To move beyond "efficiency" as a buzzword and measure the real, tangible impact of AI-powered centralization on Net Operating Income (NOI).
The results are in. Across the board, our customers have demonstrated that centralization isn’t simply a tool for increased operational consistency or a way to run leaner, but that it is in fact a margin-expanding strategy that is redefining the traditional multifamily business model.
Here is what the data told us in 2025.
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The Hard Numbers: Measuring the NOI Impact
We conducted detailed NOI case studies with over a dozen operators representing a diverse range of geographies and business models. The data reveals a clear correlation between the depth of centralization and financial performance, as broken down on a per unit, per year (PUPY) basis.
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The "Centralization Network Effect"
Perhaps the most compelling insight from our 2025 data is the existence of a "network effect" in operations. When you look at the numbers, you will notice that the benefit of centralizing both Leasing and Admin ($380) is significantly higher than the sum of centralizing them individually ($165 + $160 = $325).
This implies that increasing levels of centralization create a multiplier effect. When leasing and administrative teams are both centralized, they stop operating in silos. The friction between "front of house" and "back of office" disappears, leading to an operational impact that is greater than the sum of its parts.
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In addition, centralizing multiple functions at once allows for tech stack optimization, knowledge sharing, and the injection of increased operational consistency. It also creates a more seamless resident experience, as the entire prospect-through-resident lifecycle happens within the confines of centralized operations. If you’ve, for example, conditioned prospects to expect rapid-fire responses as a result of centralized leasing + a tool like LeasingAI from EliseAI, getting them conditioned to an 8 to 12 hour response time once they’re a resident (if you’re not centralized) might feel like a significant hangup.
What Drives These NOI Improvements?
For many operators, "centralization" can feel abstract. Where does the expected performance impact actually come from? Payroll savings are an obvious one (less onsite staff = less FTEs to pay,) but the NOI impact comes from more sources than just that. Our analysis highlights three primary drivers of NOI growth:
- Payroll Savings: This is the most immediate lever. Centralization allows a single high-performing specialist to cover a dedicated set of shared responsibilities across multiple properties. This boosts your employee-per-unit ratios and significantly reduces overall payroll burden.
- Tech Stack Consolidation: Centralizing operations provides a natural audit point for your technology stack. Many operators use this transition to strip away redundant point solutions and consolidate their operations onto a purpose-built centralization platform, like EliseCRM.
- Operational Outperformance: Centralized teams specialize. Unlike an onsite generalist who must juggle fifty different tasks, a centralized specialist builds deep expertise in key functions like rent collection, renewals, or lead response. The result? They consistently outperform traditional onsite teams.
What’s more, centralization creates dedicated, deep career paths that allow centralized specialists to grow within a role, leverage the skills they’ve learned (instead of letting them gather dust when switching from, say, a leasing specialist role to an APM), and build meaningful careers.
Customer Spotlight: Villa Serena Communities
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To see these mechanics in action, we can look at Villa Serena Communities, an operator that leveraged EliseAI to shift to a fully centralized operating model for both leasing and admin.
Comparing their performance in January–April 2025 against the same period in 2024, the results were impressive:
- Total NOI Gain: The operator realized an increase of $731 per unit per year.
- Driven by Efficiency: Payroll reductions were the single biggest driver, accounting for 43% of the NOI gain (roughly $26 per unit per month).
- Service Levels Maintained: Crucially, this efficiency did not come at the cost of performance. Occupancy actually held steady and slightly improved (91% → 92%) during the transition.
The success of Villa Serena Communities’ centralization efforts might be even more relevant in the context of expected 2026 market trends and updates—technology and operational redesign can move the needle on margins and protect NOI, particularly in a challenging cost environment where rent growth is constrained.
2025 Learnings & The Road to 2026
This past year was a breakthrough. We worked alongside customers large and small as centralization moved from proof-of-concept to measurable financial improvement. But as we look toward 2026, the stakes are changing.
The ability to extract incremental NOI while maintaining service levels is becoming a key competitive differentiator, and even more so in light of tepid rent growth expectations in 2026. Our customers are seeing revenue upside through higher conversion and collections, alongside cost containment via staffing optimization.
We have three key takeaways for the year ahead that we’d encourage all operators, centralized or not, to keep in mind:
- Time Savings Are Value: When onsite teams reclaim tens of thousands of hours from transactional tasks, they have more time to focus on high-value activities like resident engagement, site walks, and competitive analysis. These activities drive leasing conversion and retention rates up, which protects margins and preserve NOI in a tight environment.
They also improve the onsite experience and, in turn, have the ability to impact your ability to keep top staff. GoldOller Real Estate Investments increased onsite retention rates by 47% after switching to EliseCRM, saving thousands of dollars annually in training and backfill costs while maintaining consistent onsite operations. - Metrics and Structures Need Realigning: The shift to centralized operations requires new KPIs, compensation models, and team structures. We see the most successful centralized operators redefine their teams and change compensation structures to meet new operational realities, rather than try to cling to outdated compensation models and structures that negatively impact centralized operations. We also see the smartest centralized operators simplify their tech stacks around powerful centralized tools like EliseCRM to support this new way of working, rather than relying on legacy technology and cumbersome point solutions.
- Adoption Is a Competitive Edge: If 2025 was the year operators proved centralization works, 2026 will be the year it begins creating winners and losers. As consolidation in the fee management sector continues to proliferate, large operators will continue to be able to win on costs due to powerful force-multiplying technology like EliseAI, and as rent growth moderates, operators who are able to protect stronger margins and keep NOI high will maintain a key competitive advantage over those who don’t.
We're already seeing this happen in practice. Several fee managers in our centralization network have begun leading their underwriting efforts with the efficiency gains and cost reductions associated with centralization, helping them secure expanded books of business. Direct feedback from LPs and GPs alike is that the cost savings these fee managers are able to achieve (without a decline in service quality or asset performance) has been a key factor in explaining why they selected our centralized fee manager customers vs. the market at large.
If you want to centralize, but are not sure how to get started, EliseAI has you covered. You can either get your hands on our 300+ page centralization playbook, informed by our work consulting with the most innovative centralized operators in the industry, or get in touch with our centralization consulting team for a personalized engagement. We’re here to help you get the most out of your teams, your tech, and your operations—so reach out to us today.
To all our centralized partners: thank you for working alongside us to push the industry forward. We're proud to be your partner in organizational transformation, and we look forward to helping more of you on this path in 2026 and beyond!