NMHC: Renters Step Up Again with On-Time Payments

May 11, 2020

The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC)’s latest Rent Payment Tracker found 80.2% of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by May 6. This is a 1.5-percentage point decrease in the share who paid rent through May 6, 2019, but a 2.2-percentage point increase over April 6 of this year.

“Despite the fact that over 20 million people lost their jobs in April, for the second month in a row, we are seeing evidence that apartment renters who can pay rent are stepping up and doing so,” said Doug Bibby, NMHC president. “We expect May to largely mirror April.”

Bibby added, though, “we are in uncharted waters and will be watching this closely over the course of the month.” The Rent Tracker is based on a survey of 11.4 million professionally-managed apartment units nationwide. NMHC is updating the results on a weekly basis.