Nearly a third of apartment renters failed to pay landlords for April

Washington Examiner – by Madison Dibble

Nearly 1 out of every 3 renters did not pay their April rent.

The coronavirus tore apart the U.S. economy, leaving many people unemployed or furloughed for the time being. The ripple effects of those firings left many landlords without a check on the first of the month.

According to data from the National Multifamily Housing Council and a consortium of real-estate data distributors, 69% of renters paid their landlords for April compared with 81% who paid for March. For an annual comparison, 82% of renters paid their landlords in April 2019.

The rental statistics included renters who had issued partial payments in the data. Some renters who are waiting on a paycheck may still make their rent payment before the end of April. The data set included only data from those who rent apartments and did not include single-family homes or low-income housing facilities. In total, data from more than 13.4 million renters was included in the report.

Many renters are immune from evictions for the time being as several states and federal agencies have placed a lock on evictions during the coronavirus pandemic. This could, however, cause problems for landlords who owe banks mortgage payments. The federal government has a few fail-safes for government-backed mortgages and the mortgage bond market, but the situation could still do serious damage to the economy as only a portion of landlords are protected.

New jobless claims jumped by 6.6 million for the last week of March, which was added to the 3.2 million new jobless claims that were filed in the week prior. In March, the economy lost more than 700,000 jobs.

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