It’s being estimated that as much as a third of all renters in the United State failed to make their full payments in April. It’s these kinds of numbers that have market observers worried that a new housing crisis could be fast approaching as nearly 7 million people have filed unemployment claims. One-third of all homes in the country as leased and some experts are predicting that up to 15 million households could end up missing payments if they continue to be barred from working. Even if they are allowed to defer payments, the belt-tightening that will be necessary to pay off the back rent will put a serious strain on their finances. In the last two weeks of March, over 2,600 commercial mortgage-backed securities borrowers requested $500bn in relief measures from banks. Evictions and foreclosures have been banned for two months, but this isn’t likely to provide a long-term solution to the income that’s being lost by companies and employees every day stay-at-home measures are extended.
