Independent Landlord Rental Performance Report: January 2026

Updated: 2 days ago

Monthly Tracker of On-Time Payments in Non-Institutional ("Mom-and-Pop") Rental Properties

Key Takeaways

In January 2026, on-time rental payments in independently operated units inched higher to 83.3%, extending the gradual improvement observed since late 2025.
Measured year-over-year, on-time payment rates remain materially lower than a year ago, marking the 30th consecutive month of annual declines.
Despite softer on-time performance, full-payment rates have remained resilient, with 2025 averaging approximately 96.0%, outperforming the 2024 average.
Late payments — the primary driver of underperformance in the mom-and-pop sector — remained above 10% throughout 2025, though data point to continued easing entering early 2026.
Western and Mountain states continue to post the strongest on-time payment rates nationally, led by Alaska, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Utah.

The Bottom Line Upfront

Recent national data continue to point toward gradual improvement across independently operated rental properties. While on-time payment rates remain well below post-pandemic highs, the stabilization observed since late summer has carried into early 2026. The pace of improvement remains measured, but the absence of renewed deterioration suggests that the sector is slowly working through the pressures that emerged in mid-2025.

As in prior months, elevated late payments remain the primary source of underperformance. In both 2023 and 2024, the three-month moving average of late payments rarely reached double digits. In contrast, late payments remained above 10% throughout 2025, placing sustained strain on small landlords. While these delays are less severe than outright nonpayment, they complicate cash-flow management for operators with limited financial buffers.

At the same time, the data continue to show that tenants are largely prioritizing rent obligations. Full-payment rates remain relatively high, indicating that many late payments are ultimately being resolved. Because partially satisfied rents are classified as unpaid in this dataset, the effective income impact to landlords may be less severe than topline on-time figures suggest.

Labor market conditions remain an important stabilizing force. While job growth has slowed meaningfully, the environment has been characterized more by reduced hiring than widespread layoffs. Importantly, wage growth continues to outpace inflation, allowing household purchasing power to improve at the margin. This dynamic provides breathing room for renters under pressure and helps explain the gradual improvement in rent payment performance observed since late 2025. So long as employment conditions remain broadly stable and apartment rent growth continues to moderate, these gains are likely to carry into 2026.

National Overview

On-time rental payments in independently operated units edged higher again in January 2026, marking a fourth consecutive month of incremental improvement. While gains remain modest, the continued upward drift suggests the sector is stabilizing following the pronounced deterioration observed in mid-2025. According to the latest data, 83.3% of units paid their full rent on time in January, up 20 basis points from December’s revised reading (83.1%). Relative to the September 2025 low, the on-time payment rate has now improved by just over 100 basis points.

As additional payment data have been incorporated, prior month estimates have been revised modestly lower. December’s on-time payment rate, initially reported at 83.7%, has since been revised down to 83.1%, while November’s figure now stands at 82.7%. These revisions reflect the typical reconciliation process as late-arriving payments are fully accounted for and do not materially alter the broader trend of gradual improvement entering early 2026.

Year-over-Year Change

Despite recent month-to-month improvement, on-time payment rates remain materially below year-ago levels. Compared to January 2025, on-time collections are down by 224 basis points, extending the streak of year-over-year declines to 30 consecutive months.

That said, the pace of annual deterioration continues to ease. Year-over-year gaps that approached 300 basis points during the summer of 2025 have narrowed meaningfully in recent months. With on-time payment rates now more than a full percentage point above their late-2025 lows, the data increasingly point to stabilization and a slow rebuilding of payment performance as the sector moves deeper into 2026.

Note: As of May 2024, monthly data estimates are reported as a three-month moving average.

Full-Payment Rate: Historical & Forecast

The forecast full-payment rate for January 2026 — which accounts for on-time, late, and historically anticipated late payments — is estimated at 95.5%, remaining broadly stable following modest month-to-month fluctuation at the end of 2025. As in prior months, realized full-payment outcomes continue to modestly outperform initial forecasts, reflecting a higher-than-expected resolution rate of late payments. While this dynamic has weighed on on-time performance, it underscores the continued willingness and ability of tenants to cure missed payments over time.

Excluding the most recent months, which remain influenced by incoming late payments and forecast assumptions, the average monthly full-payment rate for 2025 stands at approximately 96.0%. This places 2025 performance between the 2023 average (96.6%) and the 2024 average (95.3%), reinforcing the view that income realization for independent landlords has remained relatively resilient despite elevated late-payment activity.

Late Payments

Late payments continue to be the primary source of underperformance for the mom-and-pop rental sector. While late payments are generally less damaging to property-level economics than outright nonpayment, they remain a meaningful source of operational strain. Independent landlords rely heavily on timely rental income to meet recurring expenses, making payment delays particularly disruptive.

The three-month moving average of late payments rose steadily through much of 2024 and 2025, climbing from a cycle low of 8.4% to a post-pandemic high of 13.4% in September 2025. Since then, conditions have begun to stabilize. The three-month moving average declined in October and November, with November’s observed reading coming in at 12.8%, marking a clear break from the prior upward trend.

Further improvement appears likely. Based on current payment patterns, the forecast late-payment rate is projected to ease to 12.5% in December and 12.2% in January. While late payments remain elevated relative to historical norms, the recent inflection suggests that pressure in this channel may be gradually abating as the market moves into early 2026.

Performance by Property Type

Performance across rental subsectors continues to show a clear gradient. In January 2026, 2–4-family rentals once again led all property types, posting an on-time payment rate of 84.0%. Single-family rentals followed at 83.2%, while multifamily properties continued to trail, with an on-time payment rate of 82.6%.

All three subsectors recorded modest month-over-month improvement, reinforcing the broader stabilization trend observed at the national level. While on-time payment rates remain below earlier-cycle highs, recent gains have been broadly shared across property types, suggesting that improving conditions are not confined to any single segment of the independently operated rental market.

Regional Differences

At the state level, regional performance patterns remained largely intact. Western and Mountain states continued to outperform the rest of the country in January 2026. Alaska (95.8%), New Hampshire (94.3%), South Dakota (93.8%), and Utah (92.9%) posted the highest on-time payment rates nationally, with several additional Western states clustered closely behind.

While Western outperformance remains a defining feature of the current cycle, strength was not limited exclusively to that region. A mix of Mountain, Pacific, and select East Coast states populated the top tier. At the lower end of the distribution, on-time payment rates continued to concentrate in the high-70% to low-80% range, underscoring the uneven nature of recovery across regional and local housing markets as conditions continue to normalize into early 2026.

Importance of the Report

The Independent Landlord Rental Performance report provides valuable insights into how well non-institutional landlords are managing rental payments. It uses data from property management software RentRedi, showcasing results from 64,804 units. Information is collected and reported monthly by Chandan Economics. The trends highlighted here can serve as a benchmark for investors, brokers, and policymakers to understand the health of independent landlords in the rental market.

About: Chandan Economics

Chandan Economics is an economic advisory and data science firm serving the commercial real estate industry. The firm provides bespoke research, analytics, and advisory services to investors, lenders, operators, and public- and private-sector clients. Core practice areas include real estate data science (REDS), economic and market research, and litigation consulting, with a focus on translating complex data into clear, decision-relevant insight.

About: RentRedi

RentRedi is the leading comprehensive, data-powered rental management software for smart landlords and investors. It helps landlords and their tenants rent smarter by providing all the tools and intelligence needed to optimize portfolios, boost retention, reduce turnover, and improve the lives of everyone in the rental process. By combining real-time data, user behavior insights, and customer feedback with a modern, intuitive interface, RentRedi delivers solutions that help savvy real estate investors increase revenue, reduce risk, save time, minimize friction, and improve relationships. For landlords, the all-in-one web and mobile app streamlines rent collection, listings, tenant screening, lease signing, maintenance coordination, accounting, and more. For their tenants, it includes online rent payment, auto-pay, credit building and boosting, 24/7 maintenance requests, among other services. Founded in 2016, RentRedi is VC-backed and a proven PropTech leader. It has been recognized by the Inc. 5000, Inc. Power Partners, Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech, and HousingWire’s Tech100. With more than $33 billion in assets under management and nearly 300,000 landlords and tenants using its platform, RentRedi partners with leading technology providers including Zillow, TransUnion, Experian, Equifax, Realtor.com, Lessen, Thumbtack, Plaid, and Stripe to create the best customer experience possible. Learn more at RentRedi.com.

Methodology

Data are reported on a forward basis from March 2020 through January 2026 (current reporting period). As of the latest month of data availability, the reduced unit sample size totals 64,804. Rent charges are measured on a 15th-to-15th-of-the-month basis. Rent charges that are issued after the 15th of the current month are treated as a rent charge for the following rent-tracking period. (E.g., a rent charge sent on November 16th would be treated as a charge corresponding to December's owed rental payment.) Monthly estimates are represented as a three-month moving average.

Only charges designated as "rental income" are included for analysis. Rent charges below $500 and above $10,000 are excluded from this analysis.

Units that have not paid any form of rental income (full or partial) in the previous 60 days at the time a new rental charge is issued are removed from the sample tracking sample. Unpaid units refer to all units that have yet to fully satisfy their owed rents for a collection period. These unpaid units include units that have only partially paid their rent. As a means of reporting standardization, units with more than one monthly rent charge (E.g., rent paid weekly) are removed from the rent tracking sample.