S.D. RENTERS MAKE MORE PAYMENTS DURING COVID THAN OTHERS
Las Vegas and New Orleans have seen biggest declines
Economic fallout from COVID-19 has meant thousands of Americans missing rent payments, but San Diego is one of the places where payments have been largely uninterrupted.
San Diego metropolitan area had one of the smallest percentages of residents not paying rent in the nation, 3.4 percent, in September, said an analysis of 50 metros from RealPage. That compares to 12.9 percent in New Orleans and 10.6 percent in Las Vegas.
RealPage chief economist Greg Willet said a large reason the nation has not seen widespread missed payments is land
lords working with renters to come up with payment plans. Yet areas with high reliance on tourism and have high unemployment seem to be the hardest hit.
San Diego County may have a large tourism industry, but it also has one of the lowest unemployment rates at 9.9 percent in August. That compares to 15.5 percent in the Las Vegas metro area at the same time, said data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
In general, California metro areas did better than other areas, according to the RealPage data that relied on National Multifamily Housing Council’s Rent Payment Tracker that included more than 11 million apartments. Sacramento had the lowest percentage of renters not paying, 3.2 percent. It was followed by Riverside (3.3 percent), Anaheim (3.7 percent) and San Francisco (4.2 percent).
The exception was Los Angeles with 6.6 percent not paying, making it the fifth highest of the 50 metros. RealPage said the best place for gathering rent was Provi
dence, Rhode Island, which recorded no missed payments. It was followed by Virginia Beach-Norfolk with 1.9 percent of renters missing payments and 2.6 percent in both Tampa and Salt Lake City.
Doug Bibby, president of the National Multifamily Housing Council, wrote that 7.8 percent of renters, roughly 200,000 households, were un
able to pay full rent in September. His organization is calling for a federal rent relief package to offset eviction moratoriums. The Washington, D.C.-based organization advocates on behalf of apartment owners, managers and developers.
“This morning’s results show the real-world impact of lawmakers failing in their responsibilities to their con
stituents,” he wrote.
Many cities, including San Diego, have set up rent relief programs using federal money. The San Diego rent relief program launched in July with $15.1 million from the federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act.
It’s unclear if more federal stimulus money is coming. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had frozen talks on another stimulus package, but appeared to soften his stance Wednesday by saying he would be open to another round of direct checks to all Americans, as well as relief for airlines.
Even though the San Diego metropolitan area (which includes all of San Diego County) is better off than some areas of the nation, there have been some changes. RealPage said the number of San Diegans not paying rent was up 1.2 percent from the same time last year.
Average rent in San Diego County was $1,879 in the third quarter, up about 1 percent annually, said real estate tracker CoStar. That is a slight improvement for landlords, who saw rent drop 0.1 percent annually in the second quarter. While the decrease was hardly noticeable, it was notable because it was the first time rents had dropped since the Great Recession and broke up years of increases.