Multifamily apartment buildings in the US have reported a slight decline in April rent payments compared to this time last year.
A weekly survey from the National Multifamily Housing Council found that 91.5% of renters in professionally managed apartments had paid some or all of their rent by 26 April. (The survey does not include subsidised or public housing, and does not distinguish between full or partial payments.)
That statistic for April – the first full month of lockdown in many American cities – is down compared to the first 26 days of March, when 94.6% of renter households had made rent payments. It’s down slightly more from the same time period last year, when 95.6% of renter households had made a payment.
The group’s first April survey reported a much greater lag behind last month: Just 69% of renters had made a payment by 5 April, compared to 82% in the first five days of March. Still, advocates fear a prolonged health and economic emergency could exacerbate the US’s eviction crisis that existed even before the coronavirus.
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