Zillow Reports on the Impact for Renters and Landlords

March 30, 2020
Share this Post: 

Zillow Group has analyzed how relief programs could soften the financial blow caused by the chaos surrounding COVID-19. 

Recent numbers show that renters in the US who work in the food and retail industries are spending more on housing costs if they are unable to work for two months. The rate is a six percent increase from the current renters' numbers.

Local governments continue to limit or close businesses to stop the spread of COVID-19, and different solutions have been brought to the floor to help alleviate some of the financial hardships facing employees. 

Zillow has reported that the short-term loss of income is greatly affecting renters' finances and what that could mean for landlords in the coming months.

New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo stated he does not intend to forgive rent for tenants hit hard by quarantine or layoffs. He says the 90-day ban on evictions is enough for now. 

Zillow analysts reported the states where food and retail workers will have to spend up to half their annual income on rent are San Diego, San Jose, Calif., Denver, Miami, Los Angeles, Riverside, Calif. and Sacramento—37 percent of local food and retail employees being in Las Vegas, the highest percentage of any market analyzed by Zillow. 

Zillow Senior Policy Advisor Alexander Casey, said: 

"Renters across the country, and in the service industries especially, are already often stretching their budgets. They are likely to see their rent burden increase if paychecks disappear, which also means they'll have less funds left after paying housing costs for other essentials, which can quickly become devastating. But without drastic measures now to slow the spread of this disease, we risk it worsening, further delaying the economy's return to business as usual and resuming the livelihoods for these workers."

With the US jumping up the chart of most infected people per country, and the stretch of the quarantines being unknown, it's important now, more than ever to find a balance. Analyses like this gives companies a valuable source of data to make more informed decisions.

March 30, 2020
Victoria has been writing about property portals and marketplace sites for Online Marketplaces for over 3 years. She is also our resident artist and is responsible for all of the infographic content on the site.

Subscribe to our mailing list to get the famous, free Friday newsletter!

News and analysis to help build better online marketplace businesses, in your inbox, every Friday

Related News

People Roundup 26 July 2024
People Roundup: REA Group, Hometime, Avito

This week's people roundup features three big hirings in Australia and Russia. We'll start Down Under...   REA Group appoints...

Read More
Rightmove 1
Rightmove Posts Profits of £135 Million and Reveals £3 million Investment in Coadjute

The market-leading British property portal, Rightmove has released a report on its performance for the first half of 2024 showing...

Read More
Product Roundup 26 July 2024
Product Roundup: Zillow, Zoopla, AtHome, SeLoger, View.com.au, Domclick

This week's product roundup is a big one. We'll start in Asia and Oceania this time...   AtHome.jp launches new...

Read More
Ten Questions With...backflip 1
Ten Questions with Josh Ernst, CEO at Backflip

"We believe value-added real estate investing that leverages the right decision-making tools can succeed in just about any market condition."...

Read More

Editor's Pick