Take up rate in real estate is a general measure of leasing activity within a geographic area over a specific period of time.
For example, the take up rate in Chinatown increased by 10% in the third quarter refers to the number of tenants for available vacant rental property went up by 10%.
This means that if there were 100 rental units and 80 were occupied previously, now there are 88 units occupied by tenants.
The assumption is that 100 rental units remain the same. A change in this figure would affect the computation of the takeup rate, especially when expressed as a percentage.
However, this term is also often loosely used to refer to purchases, especially in the area of new condominium launches.
For example, if the number of units release for sale is 100 and had a take up rate of 77%, it means that 77 of the 100 units were sold.
We can often see developers and salespeople advertising high take-up rates of new launches so as the drive up interest in the development projects.
Overall, the take up rate is a statistic that is useful for real estate investors who love to look at the big picture to have a sense of the current strength of the market.
Otherwise, it is mostly used for financial reporting purposes.
