by Calculated Risk on 6/16/2020 11:34:00 AM

From the NMHC: NMHC Rent Payment Tracker Finds 89 Percent of Apartment Households Paid Rent as of June 13

The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC)’s Rent Payment Tracker found 89.0 percent of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by June 13 in its survey of 11.4 million units of professionally managed apartment units across the country.

This is a 0.1-percentage point increase from the share who paid rent through June 13, 2019 and compares to 87.7 percent that had paid by May 13, 2020. These data encompass a wide variety of market-rate rental properties across the United States, which can vary by size, type and average rental price.

“Once again, it appears that residents of professionally managed apartments were able to largely pay their rent,” said Doug Bibby, NMHC President. “However, there is a growing realization that renters outside of this universe are experiencing profound hardships as the nation continues to grapple with historic unemployment and economic dislocation.

“In the midst of a pandemic and a recession, it is critical that those on the front lines are safely and securely housed. Accordingly, we urge lawmakers to take swift action to create a Rental Assistance Fund and extend unemployment benefits so we can avoid future eviction-related problems and don’t undermine the initial recovery.”
emphasis added

CR Note: It appears most people are still paying their rent.   This was a higher percentage than in May (at the same point in the month), and actually up 0.1 percentage points from the same date a year ago.

Several disaster relief programs have clearly helped renters pay their bills, such as the extra $600 per week in unemployment insurance, the PPP, and the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). The PPP has been modified, but will need to be extended. And the $600 per week in extra benefits ends at the end of July (and will need to be extended, perhaps at a lower rate).

The PUA program with 9.7 million participants (mostly self-employed),  expires at the end of 2020, but these individuals have also being receiving the extra $600 per week that expires in July.