April Sees 12% Drop in Households Paying Rent on Time

• April 8th 2020

by Nena Perry-Brown

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As the country deals with record-breaking unemployment, people have already started falling behind on rent payments. 

Today, the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) debuted its Rent Payment Tracker, which attempts to monitor how rent-paying habits have changed in the wake of the COVID pandemic. The tracker found that 12% fewer renter households paid rent through the first five days of April (69%) compared to the same time last month (81%) or the same time last year (82%).

“The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in significant health and financial challenges for apartment residents and multifamily owners, operators and employees in communities across the country,” Doug Bibby, President of NMHC, said in a statement. “However, it is important to note that a large number of residents met their obligations despite unparalleled circumstances, and we will see that figure increase over the coming weeks."

The rent-paying data is culled from 13.4 million occupied units nationwide, using property management platforms Entrata, MRI Software, RealPage, ResMan, and Yardi. Leaders from those platforms have stated that the initial data frame including a weekend could also have an impact on the numbers, and that data from the next "week" (April 6-12) and from the first week of May will be more reliable indicators of how payment habits have been affected.

Greg Willett, Chief Economist at RealPage noted that metro areas with tourism-heavy economies have shown the most significant drop in timely payment, and drop-offs have been most significant among households residing in "Class C" apartment product (generally older housing stock without elevators or amenities).

The data does not include subsidized affordable units or student and military housing. The data also does not account for properties which may have closed offices or have offered payment plans to residents. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/12-fewer-renter-households-nationwide-paid-on-time-this-month/16694.