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Nov 5, 2020 - Economy

Apartment dwellers feel the pinch

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Reproduced from National Multifamily Housing Council; Chart: Axios Visuals

Although August was the worst month in 2020 for apartment dwellers paying their rent on time, in full or in part — 92.1% — things haven't gotten much better since then.

The big picture: "We have found a slight, but fairly steady, deterioration in rent payments," said Colin Dunn, a spokesperson for the National Multifamily Housing Council, which advocates for rent subsidies and ending evictions moratoria.

  • The group's online rent payment tracker shows what percentage of lessees of its more than 11 million units made payments in a given week.
  • The Oct. 27 survey — the most recent — saw a payment rate of 94.6%, up from 92.2% in September.

The bottom line: Given the economic pain caused by the coronavirus, the payment rates are staying fairly strong, Dunn said. "Compared to where they could have been, we remain encouraged."

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