Glossary · Absorción (sales pace)
What is absorption rate in real estate?
Absorption rate is the number of units a project sells in a period, usually a month, counted in units or as a percentage of total inventory. Developers use it to estimate how many months it will take to sell the remaining units and to compare plan against actuals. A low absorption rate means capital tied up and pressure on price.
How to calculate absorption: an example
An illustrative example. The Acme project has 120 units. It sold 18 in 3 months.
- Rate: 18 ÷ 3 = 6 units per month.
- As a percentage: 6 ÷ 120 = 5% of inventory per month.
- Remaining: 120 - 18 = 102 units. At the same pace, they'll last about 17 months.
We count a sale as a signed contract with the down payment (enganche) paid. We count reservations (apartado) separately, since some of them won't reach a contract.
What slows absorption down?
Absorption depends on price, location, product and market. But some of the causes sit inside the funnel, and you can fix them without touching the price.
- Leads get a late reply or none at all. According to InsideSales.com (8,742 companies, MarketingProfs, 2017), 39% of leads got no contact at all.
- Sales reps give up after one or two call attempts.
- Meetings get booked without qualification, and people with no budget show up at the showroom.
- Reservations don't turn into contracts.
In a GOST modeled example, the same ad budget produces about 10 sales instead of 5 when first contact happens with 60% of leads instead of 30%. For a project, that's double the absorption rate on the same ad spend.
How do you use absorption to manage sales?
Compare actual absorption with the plan every month and break the gap down by funnel stage: too few leads, contacts, meetings or closes. Decide on a price cut only after you've checked that the leads are being worked at all.