[Survey] Rent Payment and Eviction Trends June & July 2021

In June and July, we sent a survey to over 50,000 active TurboTenant landlords. We have been surveying our landlord and renter base for over a year to gain insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their rental process, and identify trends related to rent payments, mortgage payments, debt and income, communication trends, and tenant screening criteria. This is our twelfth survey in our series on COVID-related landlord and tenant topics. We will continue to publish insights and data through 2021. This survey was conducted between July 22nd through July 30th. Our key takeaways and insights from both landlords and tenants for our June/July survey are highlighted below. You can read the summary of our data from the first three months of 2021 in our Quarterly Report.

TL;DR

(You should still read it, but here are some of the most compelling highlights.)

• When it came to rent relief, 88% of landlords did not apply, 8% were not eligible for assistance, 5% applied and have not received funds, and 5% applied and received funds.
• Landlords reported up to $75,000 in back rent owed for their properties.
• A grand 42% of landlords have had institutional investors offer to buy their homes, but only 1% have accepted the offer.
• 69% of landlords received full rent payments in June, up four percentage points from May.
• 70% of landlords received full rent payments in July, up one percentage point from June.
• 52% of renters were unaware of federal or state emergency rental assistance programs enacted by stimulus bills.
• 25% of tenants reported spending more than 50% of their income on rent

Landlord and Renter Demographics

Below, we have outlined high-level demographic information for landlord and renter respondents related to location, unit size, forbearance, annual household income, savings, and rent relief.

Landlords

Key Data Points:

• 54% of landlords own rental property in cities or urban areas.
• Only 3% of landlords are in forbearance with their mortgage while 18% don’t have a mortgage on their rentals, and a grand 76% did not have to go into forbearance. 
• How many units survey respondents own: 1-4 Units – 68%, 5-10 Units – 18%, 11-20 Units – 8%, 21+ Units – 6%.
• When it came to rent relief, 88% of landlords did not apply, 8% were not eligible for assistance, 5% applied and have not received funds, and 5% applied and received funds.

Renters

Key Data Points:

• 61% of renters live in cities or urban areas, 28% in suburban, and 11% in rural communities.
• 53% of renters have an annual household income of less than $50,000, while only 7% reported an annual household income between $75k to $100k.
• Only 36% of renters had to dip into savings to pay their rent in the last two months.
• 29% of renters had to take on debt to cover rent.

Landlord Data – Rent Payments

Key Takeaways: 

• Seventy percent of landlords received full rent payments in July, up five percentage points from May.
• Landlords in suburban communities received the most full rent payments at 74%, and only 65% of landlords in urban areas received full rent payments. Five to fifteen percent in all community types reported no rent payments received for June.
• For July, landlords in suburban communities received the most full rent payments at 75%. Three to nine percent in all community types reported no rent payments received for July.
• Independent landlords with 1-4 units received the most full rent payments at 74%, and the most missed payments at 11% – up two percentage points from May.
• Only nineteen percent of landlords who did not receive full rent started eviction proceedings, which is down 15% from May, while just 2% negotiated a permanently reduced rent, up 7 percentage points from May.

Renter Data – Rent Payments

Key Takeaways:

• Eighty-four percent of tenants were confident they could pay their full rent amount in August.
• The majority of renters at 29% paid rent online via ACH, digital wallet, or rent payment platform, and 29% paid rent with cash, down five percentage points from May.
• Sixteen percent of tenants with household incomes of less than $50,000 were unable to pay their rent, along with 14% of tenants with household incomes of over $75,000. July showed a decrease in both of these percentages.

Renter Data – Rent Relief and Income

Key Takeaways:

• 25% of tenants reported spending more than 50% of their income on rent, while 49% needed between 30-50%, and 26% needed less than 30% of their income for rent.
• 52% of renters were unaware of federal or state emergency rental assistance programs enacted by stimulus bills.
• 76% of renters did not apply for rental assistance, 11% were not eligible, 8% applied and have not received funds, and only 4% applied and had received funds.

Landlords – Rental Industry Trends

Key Takeaways:

• Twenty-five percent of landlords reported they are owed back rent.
• Landlords reported up to $75,000 in back rent owed for their properties.
• Eighty-three percent of landlords are not planning to evict their tenant when the eviction moratorium expires, but 11% plan to evict.
• A grand 42% of landlords have had institutional investors offer to buy their homes, but only 1% have accepted the offer.
• Twenty-five percent of landlords, down 37 percentage points from May, reported they had to lower their monthly rent amount in order to fill a vacancy.

We will continue to survey renters and landlords, and update this data every month. If you have data requirements that are outside the scope of this article, please email [email protected]. We have ongoing data collection and are happy to supply another data set if it is available. Check out all of our COVID-19 landlord resources here.

If you are in the process of filling your properties, TurboTenant can help streamline your rental process with easy and free online rental applications as well as thorough tenant screening so you can find the best renter for your property.