Today, potential residents touring apartments and planned communities run internet speed tests on their phones to determine if the connectivity is good enough. For them, a home without reliable WiFi is immediately disqualified from consideration. They are shopping as much for a lifestyle as a new place to live.
For many years, apartments and single-family home communities competed for residents with physical amenities: parking garages, pools, high-end furnishings, and common areas such as fitness centers. But the industry has changed and will only get more intense in 2026. Reliable, high-speed internet service already ranks among renters’ most important determinants for choosing a place to call home. Investors and property owners need to take serious note, this shift will have direct impact on property values, resident retention, and long-term revenue growth.
Trends for multifamily competitiveness
The 2025-2026 renter population spans multiple generations—from retirees to Generation Z—but residents have one thing in common: they all want seamless connectivity. For younger residents—digital natives who stream, game, and tend to work remotely—speed and reliability are as critical as electricity or running water. But even retirees, downsizers, and work-from-anywhere professionals demand plug-and-play internet service from the day they move in.
High-speed future-proof internet, like fiber, is no longer an afterthought. It’s a deciding factor driving prospective renters to sign and renew their contracts. Ninety percent of respondents to the 2024 NMHC/Grace Hill Renter Preferences Survey said high-speed internet access was a must-have, and that they wouldn’t rent without it. According to RentX, most (55 percent) are willing to pay more for it.
Additionally, 87 percent of them said it was “very important or absolutely essential” for connectivity to be available upon move-in. High-speed internet is now a utility, not an amenity. Most residents and potential residents will make their community choices and judge their leasing experiences based upon the quality of the community’s connectivity, and increasingly whether it is provided to them on Day 1.
Both current and future renters equate reliable connectivity with the overall quality of their multifamily communities’ management services. For them, even a brief outage can significantly and negatively impact their work-from-home job performance. If a community’s internet is unavailable or even slower than expected, it is not a mere inconvenience, but a factor that may accelerate churn.
The modern amenity race
As resident expectations evolve, fiber broadband is emerging as a cornerstone of modern multifamily living—enabling a digital lifestyle that goes far beyond basic connectivity. Fiber’s symmetrical speeds on most plans and low latency make it possible for renters to enjoy immersive entertainment and seamlessly integrate smart home technologies. This shift transforms apartments and build-to-rent homes into fully-connected environments, where digital experiences are as essential as traditional amenities.
Modern residents routinely use multiple devices—laptops, tablets, smart TVs, and connected appliances—all competing for bandwidth. Fiber’s virtually unlimited capacity ensures that households can stream, work, and play simultaneously, without slowdowns or congestion. As technologies like WiFi 7, advanced telehealth, online learning, and AI-powered services become more mainstream, fiber broadband stands out as a powerful infrastructure ready to support these data-intensive applications.
Winning in the multifamily market
Affordable modern housing and the multifamily rental market are highly competitive and likely to remain so. Multifamily properties equipped with future-proof fiber see an advantage over the competition by attracting new residents more easily, minimizing unnecessary turnover. Fiber as an amenity offers growth strategies, especially when communities go for bulk fiber deals with a leading internet service provider like Quantum Fiber® Connected Communities.
In Part 2, read how fiber internet is an extraordinarily valuable tool that can unlock financial growth for 2026 and beyond.
Contact a Quantum Fiber Connected Communities expert to learn about connectivity solutions tailored to your multifamily community
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