94% of local tenants paid May rent, surveys show

With June rent coming due, two surveys show more tenants were able to pay their rent in May than in April, most likely due to federal stimulus checks received in the last month.

Locally, 94% of tenants paid their rent in full as of mid-May, a survey by CBRE agents of 47 landlords in Orange County and bordering regions of Los Angeles County shows.

That compares with 91% of tenants paying in full in by mid-April. The higher payments occurred despite state and federal programs protecting tenants from eviction if they’re unable to pay on time due to the pandemic.

“The collection rate was about 3% better,” said Michael Cavner, an Orange County CBRE agent who helped conduct the survey. “The uptick is almost 100% attributed to government incentive programs.”

The survey showed that 3.3% of tenants paid part of their rent in May and 2.7% skipped their May payments.

The results mirror a nationwide survey of more than 11 million professionally managed apartments by the National Multifamily Housing Council.

That survey showed 93.3% of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by May 27, compared with 91.7% as of April 27.

“Each week we see new evidence that Americans are prioritizing rent and that the work apartment firms did to create flexible payment plans is paying dividends,” said Doug Bibby, the multifamily council president.

U.S. rent collections still were slightly below normal, with almost 95% of tenants paying at least some of their rent by May 27 last year.

The CBRE survey is the only Southern California rent report that’s been shared publicly. In May, it included 17,500 units in “B” and “C” properties ranging from five to more than 100 apartments. The median building size was 25 units.

Half of the buildings reported getting 100% of their May payments, Cavner said. Rent collections were better in smaller buildings than bigger ones.

Smaller landlords “have more time to cultivate relationships with their tenants,” he said.