Rental Housing Weekly Briefing: August 31–September 4, 2026

Title slide with modern apartment building: Rental Housing Weekly Briefing, July 20-24, 2026, Chandan Economics.

This week’s Rental Housing Weekly Briefing examines the latest Chandan Economics–RentRedi data showing continued stabilization in mom-and-pop rent collections, with on-time payments improving in August and year-over-year performance strengthening, alongside new Trepp analysis showing that multifamily expense growth cooled in 2025 even as revenue and NOI growth also slowed.

LAST WEEK in RENTAL HOUSING

Independent Landlord Rental Performance Report

On-time rent payments at independently operated properties improved to 83.2% in August, up from 82.8% in July and reversing some of the summer softness recorded in recent months.
Year-over-year performance strengthened more meaningfully. On-time collections increased 85 basis points from August 2025, the strongest annual improvement since May 2023 and further evidence that the prolonged deterioration seen through much of 2024 and 2025 has largely run its course.
Overall payment resolution also improved. The forecast full-payment rate rose to 95.7%, up 50 basis points from July, while the latest observed late-payment rate held at 12.1% in June. Late-payment pressure remains elevated, but the June plateau is broadly consistent with normal seasonal patterns.
Multifamily drove much of the August rebound. Its on-time payment rate increased from 81.4% to 82.5%, while single-family rentals improved modestly to 83.2% and 2–4-family rentals were essentially unchanged at 83.3%. The gap across property types narrowed as a result.

Trepp Multifamily NOI & Expense Growth

According to Trepp's latest research report, multifamily operating expense growth slowed in 2025, but revenue growth weakened alongside it. Trepp’s median property-level data show operating expenses rising 3.7%, down from 5.1% in 2024, while revenue growth slowed to 2.8% from 4.2%.
NOI growth softened as a result. Median net operating income increased 1.8% in 2025, down from 3.4% a year earlier, leaving expense growth above revenue growth for the year. That points to continued pressure on operating margins despite some easing in cost inflation.
Insurance provided the clearest sign of relief, with median growth slowing sharply to 2.7% from 10.9%. Utilities moved in the opposite direction, however, accelerating to 6.7% from 3.9%, underscoring that expense pressures remain uneven across line items.
The longer-run picture remains challenging. Across the five annual changes from 2021 through 2025, Trepp’s compounded median measures imply 32.4% growth in operating expenses versus 26.6% for revenues and 21.9% for NOI, suggesting that slower cost growth in 2025 has not yet translated into stronger operating-income growth.