Furnished vs Unfurnished Rent: How Much More to Charge?

TL;DR: Furnished units rent for roughly 15% to 50% more than unfurnished ones depending on market and tenant type, with corporate and short-term rentals at the high end. A basic furniture package for a one-bedroom runs $2,500 to $6,000 and depreciates over 5 to 7 years, so the premium needs to cover replacement, not just first-year profit. Set the gap by calculating your furniture's true monthly cost, then price above it.

_Last reviewed: July 2026 · 7 min read_

You've got a unit sitting empty and you're wondering if buying a couch and a bed frame will actually get you more rent, or just more headaches. The honest answer is that furnishing works financially in specific situations and backfires in others, and the difference comes down to math you can do in ten minutes.

Okoniq Property Hub helps you log furniture purchase dates, warranty info, and condition photos so you can track depreciation and turnover damage in one place instead of guessing at replacement timing.

How much more should you charge for a furnished unit?

The typical furnished premium is 15% to 50% over an identical unfurnished unit, and where you land in that range depends almost entirely on who's renting. Corporate relocations, traveling nurses, and short-term (30-90 day) tenants will pay the top of that range because they're comparing your rate to a hotel or extended-stay, not to a bare apartment. Standard 12-month renters comparing your listing to other long-term units nearby will only pay a modest bump, often 10% to 20%, because they'd rather buy their own furniture than pay you to finance it over years.

A concrete example: if unfurnished rent in your market is $1,500, a furnished version aimed at long-term tenants might reasonably go to $1,700-$1,800. The same unit marketed for 60-day corporate stays could hit $2,200-$2,400. Pull three to five comps in your zip code specifically labeled "furnished" on Zillow or Apartments.com before you set a number. Don't guess.

What does furnishing actually cost, and does it pay back?

A basic furniture package for a one-bedroom unit typically runs $2,500 to $6,000, covering a bed, dresser, sofa, dining set, and kitchen basics. Higher-end furnishing for corporate or executive tenants can run $8,000 to $12,000. That money doesn't disappear after one lease. Furniture has a useful life of roughly 5 to 7 years under normal tenant use, so you need to divide your total cost by 60-84 months to find your real monthly overhead.

On a $4,000 furniture package spread over 6 years, that's about $56 a month in depreciation alone, before you count wear, replacement of broken items, or the appliances tenants use daily. If your furnished premium is only $150 a month over unfurnished rent, you're netting under $100 after depreciation, and that's before repairs. Appliances included in a furnished unit also run up utility costs faster than tenants expect, which is worth flagging in your lease so disputes don't land on you. If 5 appliances quietly running up your electric bill sounds familiar, factor that into how you price utilities-included furnished listings too.

Furnished or unfurnished: which fits your property and tenant pool?

Furnished makes sense for short-term markets, corporate housing zones, and college towns; unfurnished makes sense everywhere tenants plan to stay 2+ years. If your unit sits near a hospital, university, or corporate campus with rotating staff, furnished listings often rent 30% to 50% faster because that tenant pool doesn't want to buy and then dump furniture in 6 months.

| Factor | Furnished | Unfurnished | |---|---|---| | Typical rent premium | 15%-50% | baseline | | Upfront cost | $2,500-$12,000 | $0 | | Best tenant type | short-term, corporate, students | long-term (1+ year) | | Turnover workload | higher (repairs, cleaning, restocking) | lower |

If your market is mostly families and long-term renters, an unfurnished unit at a modest premium tied to upgrades (new flooring, updated kitchen) usually beats the furnished math. Landlords in slower-turnover markets often find the furniture depreciation outpaces the rent gap within 3 years.

How do you protect the furniture and set expectations in the lease?

Spell out furniture in a signed inventory list with photos, condition notes, and estimated replacement value, attached as a lease addendum. Without this, "normal wear" disputes at move-out get messy fast, and security deposit deductions for a damaged mattress or stained sofa are far easier to defend when you have dated photos and a written inventory both parties signed at move-in.

Charge a slightly higher security deposit for furnished units, typically one extra half-month's rent, since furniture damage claims average $300 to $1,500 per turnover depending on the piece. Include specific care language: no smoking near upholstery, coasters required on wood surfaces, and who's responsible for appliance maintenance versus normal repairs. If a tenant damages drywall moving a couch in or out, knowing how to fix it cleanly matters for your turnover timeline, and 5 mistakes people make patching drywall covers the repair errors that turn a quick patch into a full repaint.

How does furnished vs unfurnished affect turnover time and costs?

Furnished units take longer and cost more to turn over because you're cleaning, inspecting, and sometimes replacing furniture between tenants, not just repainting and re-carpeting. Budget an extra 3 to 5 days of turnaround time for furnished units versus unfurnished, plus $200-$600 in incidental furniture repair or replacement per turnover on average.

Kitchen appliances take the most abuse in furnished units since tenants use provided equipment harder than they'd treat their own. A dishwasher loaded wrong repeatedly, or an oven that starts acting up mid-lease, becomes your problem, not the tenant's, since you supplied it. Keeping basic troubleshooting guides on hand, like 5 dishwasher loading mistakes ruining your dishes and 5 oven problems you can fix without a technician, can save you a $150-$300 service call on issues that are actually just tenant habits.

FAQ

Is furnishing a rental worth it for a long-term lease?

Usually not by itself. For tenants staying 2+ years, the furniture premium rarely covers depreciation past year 3, so it only makes sense if you're also targeting corporate or short-term renters part of the time.

How do I price a furnished unit compared to unfurnished comps?

Pull 3-5 furnished comps in your immediate area, average their premium percentage, and apply it to your unfurnished baseline rent, then adjust up or down 5-10% based on furniture quality.

Who pays for furniture repairs during the lease?

Normal wear is the landlord's cost, but tenant-caused damage (stains, breaks, burns) should come out of the security deposit if it's documented with photos and a signed inventory at move-in.

Should I include utilities with a furnished unit?

Many furnished listings, especially short-term ones, bundle utilities into rent, but budget for higher usage since furnished tenants often run appliances and HVAC more than long-term renters treating the space as their own.

How often should I replace rental furniture?

Plan on 5 to 7 years for most pieces under normal tenant use, sooner for mattresses and upholstered items which typically need replacing every 3 to 5 years in a rotating-tenant unit.

This is educational information, not financial or legal advice. Consult a CPA about how furniture depreciation affects your taxes, and check your state's security deposit statutes before setting furnished-unit deposit amounts.