The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) has introduced a new weekly data metric, the NMHC Rent Payment Tracker, to follow rent payment dates for 13.4 million housing units across the country. This metric arrives as COVID-19, shelter-in-place orders, and record unemployment are expected to make rent more difficult for some tenants.
In its first release, the Rent Payment Tracker has found a 12 percentage point decrease in the share of apartment households that paid rent through the first five days of the month for April. According to the tracker, 81% of renter households had paid their rent in full by March 5. By April 5, only 69% of households had paid their full rent—down 13% year over year from April 5, 2019, when 82% of households had paid their rent in full.
In the recent NMHC Rent Payment Tracker Weekly Update webinar, the NMHC and its data partners—Entrata, MRI Software, RealPage, ResMan, and Yardi—noted that a number of outside influences may have affected the top-line data in ways that make historical comparisons difficult.
Jeff Adler, vice president of Yardi Matrix, noted that April 5 fell on a Sunday, while March 5 fell in the middle of the week. By Monday, April 6, according to Yardi’s observation, the month-to-month divide is “meaningfully reduced.”
Greg Willett, chief economist of RealPage, contextualizes this by noting that business offices are closed at many properties on the weekends. This creates payment difficulties for renters who do not have automatic or electronic rent pay, especially on the low end. Elizabeth Francisco, president and founder of ResMan, adds that renters may be fearful of leaving their apartments in order to drop off a check, regardless of whether the office is open.
According to RealPage analysis, rent payment struggles were most apparent in areas with large viral outbreaks or job losses associated with COVID-19, such as New York and Louisiana. Arizona, Oregon, North Carolina, and Texas were among the states with the smallest losses in rent payments.
In response to these difficulties, a number of leasing software providers, including Yardi and Entrata, have rolled out features to enable property managers to create flexible payment plans for their renters. Chase Harrington, president and chief operating officer of Entrata, notes a triple-digit percentage increase in the number of users utilizing and offering these plans.
As a whole, panelists expect the percentage of renters who are able to pay their rent on time to rise in the coming weeks as stimulus checks are distributed and unemployment insurance payments arrive.
“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, 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. That is a testament to the quick, proactive actions taken by NMHC members who put forward bold solutions.”
Additional NMHC resources focused on the COVID-19 outbreak can be found here.