[Survey] Rent Payment and Eviction Trends May 2021

In May, 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 eleventh 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 May 24th through the 28th. Our key takeaways and insights from both landlords and tenants for our May 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, 75% of landlords did not apply, 13% were not eligible for assistance, 7% applied and have not received funds, and 7% applied and received funds.
• Only 21% of renters had to dip into savings or borrow money to pay their rent in the last three months.
• 65% of landlords received full rent payments in May, up six percentage points from April.
• 90% of tenants are confident they can pay their full rent amount in June, and 91% of renters are confident they can pay their full rent in July.
• 54% of renters were unaware of federal or state emergency rental assistance programs enacted by stimulus bills.
• 18% 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:

• 56% of landlords own rental property in cities or urban areas.
• Only 5% of landlords are in forbearance with their mortgage while 19% don’t have a mortgage on their rentals, and a grand 75% did not have to go into forbearance. 
• How many units survey respondents own: 1-4 Units – 65%, 5-10 Units – 18%, 11-20 Units – 8%, 21+ Units – 8%.
• Thirty-two percent of landlords were unaware of federal or state rental relief for landlords and renters enacted through relief bills.
• When it came to rent relief, 75% of landlords did not apply, 13% were not eligible for assistance, 7% applied and have not received funds, and 7% applied and received funds.

Renters

Key Data Points:

• 60% of renters live in cities or urban areas, 27% in suburban, and 13% in rural communities.
• 49% of renters have an annual household income of less than $50,000, while only 12% reported an annual household income over $75,000.
• Only 21% of renters had to dip into savings or borrow money to pay their rent in the last three months.
• 17% of renters had to take on debt to cover rent.

Landlord Data – Rent Payments

Key Takeaways:

• Sixty-five percent of landlords received full rent payments in May, up six percentage points from April.
• Landlords in rural communities received the most full rent payments at 69%, and only 61% of landlords in urban areas received full rent payments. Zero to six percent in all community types reported no rent payments received for May.
• Independent landlords with 1-4 units received the most full rent payments at 71%, and the most missed payments at 9% – down just one percentage point from April.
• Thirty-four percent of landlords who did not receive full rent started eviction proceedings, which is up 21% from April, while only 9% negotiated a permanently reduced rent, down 38 percentage points from April.

Renter Data – Rent Payments

Key Takeaways:

• Ninety percent of tenants were confident they could pay their full rent amount in June, and 91% of renters were confident they could pay their full rent in July.
• The majority of renters at 35% paid rent with cash, and 34% paid rent online via ACH, digital wallet, or rent payment platform, up a few percentage points from April.
• Ten percent of tenants with household incomes of less than $50,000 were unable to pay their rent along with 6% of tenants with household incomes of over $75,000.

Renter Data – Rent Relief and Income

Key Takeaways:

• 18% of tenants reported spending more than 50% of their income on rent while 46% needed between 30-50%, and 36% needed less than 30% of their income for rent.
• 54% of renters were unaware of federal or state emergency rental assistance programs enacted by stimulus bills.
• 84% of renters did not apply for rental assistance, 6% were not eligible, 6% applied and have not received funds, and only 5% applied and had received funds.

Landlords – Tenant Screening Criteria

Key Takeaways:

• Thirty-one percent of landlords have made their tenant screening criteria more stringent, 6% have made it less stringent during the pandemic.
• Sixty-three percent of landlords said their tenant screening process hasn’t changed during the pandemic.
• Sixty-two percent of landlords require a credit score of 600 or more; only 9% require a credit score of 700 or more.
• Sixty-two percent of landlords, one of the highest in our reporting period, 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.