32% of U.S. households missed their July housing payments
cnbc.com
cnbc.com
The spin in the CNBC article about late payment seems misleading, or at least, not supported by the survey:
CNBC: "Almost 90% of households had paid some or all of their rent or mortgage payment by the end of June. But with late fees tacked on, those households may be more likely to miss their next housing bill, perpetuating a vicious cycle."
Apartment List: "It continues to be the case that the majority of payments missed in the first week of the month are made up with late payments. 89 percent of respondents reported that they had paid their June bill in full as of the first week of July. This is consistent with the end-of-month payment rate for prior months."
Highlighting the differences, CNBC says respondents "paid some or all", while the actual survey claims that 89% of the overdue bills were paid "in full". CNBC points out that theoretically the added fees may create a vicious cycle, while Apartment List says that there is as yet no evidence of this.
One useful datapoint that I didn't see mentioned in either article is the "base rate" for other years. What are the typical numbers for July in the years when there isn't a global pandemic? Does anyone have a source for this?
I'd posit that a survey of payers likely understates delinquency rates. For one thing, it's a bit embarrassing to admit to a stranger that you cannot make your payments. Further, in today's surveillance state, why would anyone trust that the person asking a question is simply doing a survey? Many people might think the inquiry is coming from their landlord, bank, or some government agency (like INS) or secret police -- in which case they might not voluntarily admit that they are behind on their obligations.
with the help of $600 per adult per week from the gov't. what happens when/if the PUA subsidy is not extended beyond July 31?
And part of the issue seems to be that some of them at least have to pay the rent for missing months too? Again, I don't know much about this so I hope I'm wrong.