Only 85% Apartment Homes Paid Rent - December 2020

Renton, Washington – Washington Multi-Family Housing Association’s (WMFHA) found 85% of statewide apartment homes made a full or partial payment by December 13, 2020. The data was collected from the association’s 267,000 professionally managed homes in the state.

This represents more than $212 million in unpaid rent across Washington state, is a 3.37 percentage point decrease in rent collections from the previous month of data collected, and a 4.21 percentage point decrease in collected rent from April 13, 2020. The data encompass a wide variety of market-rate rental properties across Washington state, which can vary by size, type, and average rental price.

 91% of the rent a tenant pays goes to mortgage holders, financial institutions, taxes, maintenance costs, payroll for staff, and utilities. Less than 10 percent goes back to the property owner. We urgently need a massive influx of rental assistance to help residents keep up with housing payments, avoid massive debt, and protect Washington’s fragile housing system.

WMFHA has been collecting local rent payment information from its members since the COVID-19 pandemic proliferated in March 2020. The numbers serve as an indicator of resident financial challenges and will track the recovery as well.

The survey has become crucial to local policymakers to understand the state of the rental housing industry. It helps to inform any legislation that is produced in city, county, and statewide jurisdictions.