by Calculated Risk on 8/24/2020 10:12:00 AM

From the NMHC: NMHC Rent Payment Tracker Finds 90 Percent of Apartment Households Paid Rent as of August 20

The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC)’s Rent Payment Tracker found 90 percent of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by August 20 in its survey of 11.4 million units of professionally managed apartment units across the country.

This is a 2.1-percentage point, or 237,056 -household decrease from the share who paid rent through August 20, 2019 and compares to 91.3 percent that had paid by July 20, 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.

“Lawmakers in Congress and the Administration need to come back to the table and work together on comprehensive legislation that protects and supports tens of millions of American renters by extending unemployment benefits and providing desperately needed rental assistance,” said Doug Bibby, NMHC President. “The industry remains encouraged by the degree residents have prioritized their housing obligations so far, but each passing day means more distress for individuals and families, and greater risk for the nation’s housing sector. If policymakers want to prevent a health and economic crisis from quickly evolving into a housing crisis, they should act quickly to extend financial assistance to renters.”
emphasis added

CR Note: This is mostly for large, professionally managed properties.  It appears fewer people are paying their rent this year compared to last year - down 2.1 percentage points from a year ago - and also down 1.3 percentage points compared to last month (July 2020).   This hasn't fallen off a cliff - yet. 

People were still receiving the extra unemployment benefits for most of July, and were able to make their August rent payment.  Without additional disaster relief, I expect more people will miss their September rent payment.