Record 32 Pct Of Americans Miss Housing Payments In July

A record number of tenants and homeowners — 32 percent — missed some or all of their rent or mortgage in July, according to Apartment List, the San Francisco platform that connects renters and listings.

While hopeful signs loomed last month as governors eased restrictions amid a flattened COVID-19 curve and the unemployment rate fell to 11 percent, “[d]uring the first week of this month, 19 percent of Americans had made no housing payment, while an additional 13 percent paid only a portion of their monthly bill,” the report stated.

Apartment List reported the percentage of Americans unable to fully pay their rent or home loan increased to 24 percent in early April, then rose to 31 percent in May. The missed payment rate had stabilized, declining slightly to 30 percent in June.

Among age groups, for those under 30 years old and those making less than $25,000 annually, the missed payment rate exceeded 40 percent in July.

“As overdue bills pile up, there is growing concern that a wave of evictions and foreclosures will hit the housing market,” the report stated. “Short-term displacement bans were established across the country at the outset of the pandemic, but many of these protections are now reaching their original expiration dates.”

The number of new coronavirus cases has surged, and reopening plans have been paused or rolled back throughout the country, making clear that effects of the pandemic are far from over, the report said.

“While eviction protections today vary dramatically from place to place, our survey shows widespread and growing concern about housing insecurity,” the report stated. “From June to July, the share of renters who are either ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ concerned about being evicted rose from 18 percent to over 21. Similarly, the share of homeowners concerned about foreclosure ticked up from 14 percent to 17 percent.”

The monthly poll reaches more than 4,000 Americans.

In separate news released late last month, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Volume Survey found that the number of loans in forbearance as of June 14 was 8.48 percent of servicers’ portfolio volume, down from 8.55 percent the prior week, PYMNTS reported. The MBA estimates that 4.2 million Americans are now on forbearance plans, down from 4.3 million the prior week.