Payments from apartment renters drop 13% in April

The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), a landlord trade group, said the number of U.S. apartment renters who paid their rent in full the first week of April dropped 13% from the same week the previous year.

Only 69% of tenants paid any of their rent between April 1 and 5, according to NMHC, compared with 81% in the first week of March and 82% in April 2019, the data show.

The numbers represent a ripple effect of the COVID-19 outbreak, resulting in significant health and financial challenges for apartment residents and property owners.

“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,” NMHC President Doug Bibby said in a statement.

The data come from 13.4 million rental apartments analyzed by NMHC and other real-estate data providers. Single-family homes are not included in the analysis, and the apartments counted exclude public housing and other subsidized affordable housing.

The NMHC says 40 million Americans call an apartment home and the industry supports 17.5 million jobs.

NMHC does not track the data at the state level.