Rental Housing Finance Survey

The Rental Housing Finance Survey provides a current and continuous measure of financial, mortgage, and property characteristics of rental housing properties in the United States.

The survey focuses on the financing of rental housing properties, with emphasis on new mortgages, refinanced mortgages, or similar devices such as deeds of trust or land contracts, and the characteristics of debt originations.

The 2021 RHFS includes single-family residential and multifamily residential properties with at least one housing unit intended for rent. Data collection will be conducted from June 2021 through November 2021. The reference period of the survey is all 12 months of 2020. Data collection is conducted in two phases. During Phase I, cases that include respondent contact information will first receive a letter inviting them to self-respond online using the Census Bureau Respondent Portal. The Census Bureau Respondent Portal allows respondents to complete surveys online. Respondents will create an account or login to an already existing account. They will link to the RHFS by using the authentication code provided to them in the initial letter sent from the Census Bureau. During Phase 2 field staff will begin searching for property owners and managers for cases that did not include sufficient respondent contact information and conduct interviews. Additionally, field staff will contact cases that did not self-respond during Phase 1 and conduct interviews.