Rental Debt Recovery Statistics (2026): Bad Debt, Balances and Recovery Rates

Key Rental Debt Statistics at a Glance

The headline figures, each with its source, period and the population it actually covers.

Bad Debt in Multifamily Housing

Public apartment owners report bad debt near 1% to 1.7% of revenue, roughly double what they saw before the pandemic.

The cleanest bad-debt figures come from public apartment REITs, which report them in their filings. AvalonBay reported net residential bad debt of 1.2% of residential rental income in 2024, after 1.4% in 2023 and 1.0% in 2022 (AvalonBay 2024 Annual Report). Equity Residential reported net bad debt of 1.0% of same-store residential revenue in Q1 2025, down from 1.1% in Q1 2024 and 1.3% in Q1 2023 (Equity Residential). AvalonBay management put its pre-pandemic range at 50 to 70 basis points (Multifamily Dive).

Two other sources fill in the picture. In an NMHC and NAA survey of 75 owners, developers and managers, respondents wrote off an average of $4.2 million in bad debt over the prior 12 months, with a median of $800,000. They attributed an average of 24.5% of it (median 15.8%) to residents who got in with fraudulent applications (NMHC). NAA's Income and Expense Survey, using 2018 data, put the average loss to collections at $92 per apartment unit per year (NAA).

Limits: REIT figures cover large, mostly Class A and B portfolios and use each company's own definition of net bad debt, which can include write-offs, reserves and recoveries. They aren't a national average. The NMHC average is pulled up by a few large operators, so the median is the better guide.

Rent Delinquency and Outstanding Balances

Fewer renters are behind than in 2021, but the ones who are owe a lot more.

The CFPB's rental-payment data show the share of active renters carrying an outstanding balance at about 5% from September 2021 through early 2024, falling to just under 3% by November 2024. Over the same stretch, the median balance among renters who owed money rose from $2,000 to $3,200. The share of renters charged a late fee in the prior 12 months fell from 23% in February 2023 to under 14% in November 2024, while the average late fee rose from just over $70 to $84 or $85 (CFPB).

Limits: the CFPB says this dataset isn't designed to represent all US renters (CFPB Data Spotlight). Use it for direction and scale, not as a national rate.

What Former Residents Owe When They Leave

There's no national move-out balance figure, but the CFPB's write-off data come closest.

In November 2024, the median rent write-off in the CFPB's data was $1,650 and the median non-rent write-off was $1,850, both up from roughly $1,000 in September 2021 (CFPB). Non-rent charges such as damages and fees now match or exceed unpaid rent in what gets written off. That's why the deposit itemization and damage documentation decide so much of what's collectible. Our guide to move-out balances explains how the final balance is built.

Once a balance reaches a collection agency, it's large by consumer-debt standards. The CFPB found rental and leasing collections had the highest median balance of any collection category on credit reports, $1,259 as of Q1 2022 (CFPB).

Recovery Rates and Account Age

The one widely used benchmark is NAA's, and the biggest driver it names is how fast you place.

NAA gives a standard national recovery rate of 15% to 20% for rental debt placed with collection agencies, and says affordable housing, housing authorities and poverty submarkets can fall below 10%. It also cites ACA International's rule of thumb that an account becomes about 16% less likely to be collected for every 30 days it goes unworked, and recommends placing eviction and skip accounts immediately and other uncovered former-resident balances within 30 days of move-out (NAA).

The IRS offers a cross-industry reference point: its guidance on valuing receivables discounts delinquent accounts further as they age (IRS Internal Revenue Manual). Gross recovery isn't what an owner keeps, either. At a 20% recovery and a 35% fee, the owner nets 13% of what was placed. Our fee guide works through the math.

Limits: the 15% to 20% figure is NAA's practice benchmark, not a cohort study, and the 16% figure isn't specific to rent. No public national data exist on recovery by account age bucket, gross versus net recovery, or what operators recover before placing.

Rental Debt Complaints to the CFPB

Rental debt became its own CFPB complaint category in August 2023, and the complaints center on balances people say they don't owe.

The CFPB received over 1,700 rental-debt complaints from August through December 2023, the first five months it tracked the category. Across all debt collection, it received 109,900 complaints in 2023 and 207,800 in 2024, about 7% of all CFPB complaints that year. The most common debt-collection issue was attempts to collect debt not owed, and for rental debt the CFPB highlights balances consumers dispute owing and amounts inflated by junk fees (CFPB FDCPA report 2024; 2025).

Limits: the CFPB's annual reports don't give a headline rental-debt count after 2023. A current count has to be pulled from the CFPB complaint database with the rental-debt filter.

Eviction Filings

Eviction Lab counts over a million filings a year in the places it tracks, and Phoenix is among the highest-rate cities.

Sources: Eviction Lab 2023 report, 2024 report and tracking system. Limits: Eviction Lab covers selected cities and states, not every US filing. No national source publishes what share of eviction judgments include a money judgment. For Phoenix specifically, see our Phoenix guide.

Rental Collections on Credit Reports

Rental collections are a small share of collection accounts but the largest by median balance.

As of Q1 2022, rental and leasing collections were 3% of all collection tradelines on consumer credit reports, with the highest median balance of any category at $1,259. Total collection tradelines fell 33%, from about 261 million in Q1 2018 to 175 million in Q1 2022; rental and leasing tradelines fell about 22%. About 23.5% of credit reports carried a collection of any kind. The CFPB says rental collections are mostly furnished by contingency-fee debt collectors (CFPB market snapshot).

What the Data Doesn't Show

Several numbers people quote don't exist in any reliable public source.

• A national average move-out balance by property class.
• How a typical move-out balance splits between unpaid rent, damages and fees.
• Security deposit size compared with the final balance.
• Recovery rates by account age (30, 60, 90 or 180 days) for rental debt.
• The share of eviction judgments that include a money award.

If you see one of these quoted as an industry figure, check where it came from. It's usually a single company's own portfolio. We'll update this page when a regulator, trade association or research group publishes any of them.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How soon should a former resident's balance go to collections?

  NAA recommends placing eviction and skip accounts immediately, and other former-resident balances that the deposit doesn't cover within 30 days after move-out. Its guidance also cites the rule of thumb that an account becomes about 16% less likely to be collected for every 30 days it goes unworked. See when to send unpaid rent to collections.

• Why is rental debt harder to collect than credit card debt?

  NAA points to three reasons: rental balances tend to be larger, documentation quality varies from property to property, and former residents often have less ability to pay. That's why its 15% to 20% benchmark sits below typical recovery on bank and card charge-offs.

• How can property managers reduce complaints about rental debt?

  The CFPB says rental-debt complaints often involve balances consumers say they don't owe and amounts inflated by fees. Collecting only lease-authorized charges, sending an itemized move-out statement on time and matching the ledger to the deposit accounting address most of that. Our placement documents checklist covers the file.

• How long does a rental collection stay on a credit report?

  Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, most collection accounts can stay on a consumer's credit report for seven years. Rental collections follow the same rule as other collections; there's no separate period for them.

• Can I use these statistics on my own site?

  Yes. Please credit Elite Recovery Group and link to this page, and keep the original source and date next to any figure you use, since several series come with limits on who they cover.

Related: How Asset Managers Should Measure Bad-Debt Recovery · When to Send Unpaid Rent to Collections · What Is a Move-Out Balance? · How Much Do Collection Agencies Charge? · Statute of Limitations on Rent Debt · Collection Agency for Unpaid Rent