Renters Continue to Struggle to Pay Their Rent on Time

According to Apartment List’s Rent Payment Survey (RPS) data, in spite of a slight improvement in numbers, for this month, 29% of Americans failed to pay their rent or mortgages in full during the first week of September and 8% had not yet completed their August payments by the end of the month. The share of renters who made a full, on-time rent payment improved slightly on a month-over month basis, up to 68% in the first week of September. This marks the second straight month of improvements and the highest on-time rent payment rate since June. Apartment List economists noted that this improvement came as a surprise, given the recent expiration of unemployment benefits, they also surmise that some struggling renters could have moved back in with family and friends and are no longer appearing in the sample. Of note from RPS, of roughly one in three renters struggling under unpaid rent from previous months, close to half owe their landlords less than $1,000. Only 5% of all renters owe more than $2,000. Relative levels of rent debt remain stable, indicating that renters are not generally falling further behind