by Calculated Risk on 9/16/2020 10:44:00 AM

From the NMHC: NMHC Rent Payment Tracker Finds 86.2 Percent of Apartment Households Paid Rent as of September 13

The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC)’s Rent Payment Tracker found 86.2 percent of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by September 13 in its survey of 11.4 million units of professionally managed apartment units across the country.

This is a 2.4-percentage point, or 279,457-household decrease from the share who paid rent through September 13, 2019 and compares to 86.9 percent that had paid by August 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.

“While it remains clear that many apartment residents continue to prioritize their housing obligations and that apartment owners and operators remain committed to meeting them halfway with creative and nuanced approaches, the reality is that the second week of September figures shows ongoing deterioration of rent payment figures - representing hundreds of thousands of households who are increasingly at risk,” said Doug Bibby, NMHC President.

“This sadly comes as little surprise given that Congress and the Administration have failed to come back to the table and extend the critical protections that supported apartment residents and the nation’s consumer base during the initial months of the pandemic.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph from the NMHC Rent Payment Tracker shows the percent of household making full or partial rent payments by the 6th of the month.

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 2.4 percentage points from a year ago - and also down 0.7 percentage points compared to last month at the same point (August 2020).

Declining, but not falling off a cliff.