In the battle to attract new residents and keep current ones in the fold, your apartment community's amenities undoubtedly play a vital role. 

Today's renters – especially millennials and members of Generation Z – want more than a roof over their heads and a fair monthly rate. They want the kinds of amenities that have a long-lasting impact on their lives, the amenities that improve their physical well-being, allow them to connect with others and even help develop strong financial foundations.

Strong Financial Foundation
A strong financial foundation starts with credit history. A healthy credit history is valuable when buying a house, leasing an apartment home, purchasing a car and even setting up utilities. The more positive your credit history, the better financial terms you’ll receive. 

Millennials, who make up the vast majority of today’s renters, are beginning to form families, which means they’re purchasing cars, homes and other large consumer goods in greater numbers. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, home ownership has reached its highest levels since 2014 at 63.9 percent due in large part to millennial purchases. Millennials now know they need strong credit histories to eventually buy a home. Yet, most of them aren’t receiving any credit history benefits for making their largest monthly payment – rent – on time.

Those who are receiving credit history for rental payments because they live at an innovative apartment community are reaping long-lasting benefits. An Experian RentBureau study of the effect of positive rent reporting on nearly 20,000 subsidized housing residents revealed a considerable effect on the thickness of the renters' credit files.  A more robust and diverse credit file may signal to a lender that a consumer is adept at managing multiple credit obligations. According to Experian RentBureau, 23 percent of residents with very little credit history (or thin files) moved to the thick-file category after their positive payment history was reported.

Healthy Living
A healthy financial foundation is meaningless without a healthy body. Millennials and their Gen Z counterparts get this and want to live healthy lives. Combined these two generations account for 69 percent of all fitness wearable owners, according to research firm Forrester. 

That’s not to mention their desire for smoke-free living. According to a Goldman Sachs study of high school seniors in 2013, 83 percent of young Millennials disapproved of smoking. That’s significantly more than the 69 percent of 12th graders who disapproved of smoking in 1998.

Smoke-free communities with well-equipped fitness centers are playing into these desires and offering amenities with a long-lasting impact on residents' lives.

Social Lifestyle
Despite the power and presence of social media in their lives, millennials crave socializing and want experiences more than things. In fact, 69 percent of millennials feel time spent out with friends and family is more valuable than nights at home, according to a nationwide Harris study.

This not only speaks to the need for apartment communities to be located near experience venues, but also the need to offer social spaces and create experiences at the community itself. Millennials want to spend time with friends and family, and 78 percent would choose spending money on a desirable experience or event over buying something desirable, according to the same Harris study. 

Simply put, communities that offer social, healthy and financial-based amenities to residents have an advantage over the competition because of their long-lasting benefits to renters.