The COVID-19 pandemic is already having a negative impact on the multifamily market, according to research from the National Multifamily Housing Council.
The council in its first review of the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on rent payments found a drop of 12 percentage points in the share of apartment households that paid their rent through April 5.
The council’s Rent Tracker found that 69 percent of households had paid their rent by that date. That’s down from 81 percent of households that had paid their rent by March 5. The numbers are down on a year-over-year basis, too. According to the National Multifamily Housing Council, 81 percent of households had paid their rent by April 5 last year.
“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,” said Doug Bibby, president of the National Multifamily Housing Council. “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.”
The council’s Rent Payment Tracker highlights data from 13.4 million apartment units across the country.
