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Independent Landlord Rental Performance Report: September 2026
Monthly Tracker of On-Time Payments in Non-Institutional ("Mom-and-Pop") Rental Properties
Key Takeaways
On-time payments increased to 83.2% in September, extending the rebound from the summer trough.
Year-over-year collections increased 91 basis points, the strongest annual improvement since May 2023.
The forecast full-payment rate rose to 96.2% in September, while the 2026 year-to-date average through July stands at 95.8%.
Late-payment rates increased to 12.6% in July, remaining historically elevated despite earlier improvement in the spring.
Multifamily continued to lead the recent recovery, with its on-time payment rate rising to 82.8% and further narrowing the gap with smaller rental formats.
The Bottom Line Upfront
September’s rent collection data provide further evidence that conditions across independently operated rental properties are stabilizing. On-time payments increased to 83.2%, marking a second consecutive monthly improvement after the summer trough. Compared with a year earlier, collections were up 91 basis points — the strongest annual gain since May 2023 and a sharp reversal from the more than 300-basis-point declines recorded during parts of late 2025 and early 2026.
The improvement is also becoming more broadly based. Multifamily properties continued to recover in September, with on-time payments rising to 82.8%, narrowing the gap with single-family and 2–4-family rentals. Full-payment resolution also strengthened, with the September forecast rising to 96.2%. Late-payment activity remains the clearest source of strain, however. The most recent observed reading increased to 12.6% in July, reversing part of the spring improvement and remaining well above longer-run norms.
The broader macro backdrop argues for some caution in interpreting the recent improvement. The Federal Reserve raised its target range by 25 basis points in September to 3.75%–4.00%, while its updated projections shifted the expected path for policy rates materially higher. Inflation remains elevated, and the Fed now projects a higher policy rate through 2027 and 2028 than it did in June. At the household level, real wage growth has recently weakened while the personal saving rate remains historically low, suggesting that renters have limited financial buffers if cost pressures persist. Taken together, the latest data point to improving rent collection performance, but not yet a full normalization in renter finances.
National Overview
On-time rental payments across independently operated properties improved again in September 2026. According to the latest data, 83.2% of units paid their full rent on time, up from 82.8% in August and 82.6% in July.
The September increase extends a two-month rebound from the summer trough and brings the national rate back to roughly its June level. While month-to-month performance remains somewhat uneven, the latest readings suggest that the sharp deterioration seen through much of 2025 has given way to a more stable pattern in 2026.
The year-over-year comparison has also become more favorable. September’s on-time payment rate stood 91 basis points above September 2025, reinforcing the view that collection conditions have improved meaningfully from the lows reached late last year.
As in prior months, first estimates remain subject to modest revision as additional payment data are incorporated. August’s on-time payment rate, initially estimated at 83.2%, was subsequently revised to 82.8%. These revisions reflect normal reconciliation and do not materially alter the broader stabilization trend.
Note: As of May 2024, monthly data estimates are reported as a three-month moving average.
Year-over-Year Change
Year-over-year payment performance strengthened further in September. On-time collections were 91 basis points above September 2025, up from a 48-basis-point annual gain in August and marking the strongest year-over-year improvement since May 2023.
The shift is significant relative to where the sector stood less than a year ago. Annual declines exceeded 300 basis points during parts of late 2025 and early 2026, but those losses have now been fully reversed. The latest data suggest that the market has moved beyond the prolonged deterioration that defined much of the prior two years and into a more stable phase.
Even so, current on-time payment rates remain below earlier-cycle highs. The improvement is better characterized as a recovery from recent weakness than a return to the collection performance seen in 2022 and 2023.
Full-Payment Rate: Historical & Forecast
The forecast full-payment rate for September 2026 — which accounts for on-time, late, and historically anticipated late payments — is estimated at 96.2%, up from 95.6% in August.
The year-to-date average full-payment rate through July stands at 95.8%, placing 2026 slightly below the 2025 full-year average of 96.0%, but above the 2024 average of 95.3%.
Overall, full-payment performance remains comparatively stable. The September forecast suggests that a large share of missed on-time payments are still ultimately being cured, helping preserve income realization for independent landlords even as payment timing remains less favorable than in earlier years.
Late Payments
Late payments remain a meaningful source of pressure for the mom-and-pop rental sector. While generally less damaging than outright nonpayment, delayed rent can still create significant operational challenges for independent landlords that rely heavily on timely collections to meet recurring expenses.
Late-payment activity rose sharply through 2025 and reached a post-pandemic high of 13.5% in January and February 2026. Conditions improved through the spring, falling to 12.1% in May, before moving back up to 12.4% in June and 12.6% in July.
Some of the recent increase appears consistent with seasonal patterns, as late payments have historically moved higher during the summer months. Even so, the current level remains historically elevated. Rates above 10% were relatively uncommon before 2025, suggesting that payment timing continues to reflect meaningful financial strain among renter households.
Performance by Property Type
Performance improved across all three major rental subsectors in September, with multifamily again posting the strongest monthly gain.
The multifamily on-time payment rate increased from 82.1% in August to 82.8% in September, a 70-basis-point improvement. Single-family rentals increased from 82.8% to 83.1%, while 2–4-family rentals rose from 83.1% to 83.4%.
The latest data continue to narrow the gap between multifamily and smaller rental formats. Since July, multifamily on-time payments have increased by roughly 160 basis points, compared with more modest gains in single-family and 2–4-family properties. Multifamily remains the weakest-performing segment, but its recovery has become an increasingly important contributor to the national improvement.
Regional Differences
State-level performance remained uneven in September, though Western and Mountain states continued to dominate the upper end of the distribution.
Alaska posted the highest on-time payment rate nationally at 93.3%, followed by Wyoming (93.0%), Utah (92.7%), New Hampshire (90.9%), and Nevada (90.0%). At the lower end, Mississippi recorded the weakest on-time payment rate at 69.4%, followed by Delaware (71.8%), West Virginia (76.7%), Michigan (78.1%), and Alabama (79.0%).
Individual state readings can move significantly from month to month, so the broader regional pattern remains more informative than short-term changes in any one market. Western and Mountain states continue to outperform, while weaker collection performance remains more concentrated across parts of the South and Midwest.
Importance of the Independent Landlord Rental Performance Report
The Independent Landlord Rental Performance Report provides insights into how well non-institutional landlords are managing rental payments. It uses data from property management software RentRedi, showcasing results from 60,014 units. Information is collected and reported monthly by Chandan Economics. The trends highlighted here can serve as a benchmark for investors, brokers, and policymakers seeking 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 September 2026, the current reporting period. As of the latest month of data availability, the reduced unit sample size totals 60,014. Rent charges are measured on a 15th-to-15th-of-the-month basis. Rent charges issued after the 15th of the current month are treated as a rent charge for the following rent-tracking period. 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.
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 tracking sample. Unpaid units refer to units that have yet to fully satisfy their owed rent for a collection period and include units that have made only partial payments. As a means of reporting standardization, units with more than one monthly rent charge are removed from the rent-tracking sample.
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