Total retail rent collections approached 91% last month, the first time since March 2020 that collections eclipsed the 90% mark. May collections clocked in at 90.85%, up more than a percentage point over April figures, according to new research from Datex Property Solutions.

National tenants performed even better than the national average, at 94.27% (versus 93.45% in April). Rent collections among non-national tenants came in at 87.12%, nearly two percentage points higher than April's figure and only 1.4% off its 2020 high. And collections for both national and non-national tenants are now less than one percent from their peaks for all of 2020; at this point last year, aggregate collections were down 48% from current numbers.

Mark Sigal, CEO of Datex Property Solutions, tells GlobeSt.com that landlords will likely take "a harder line" in 2021 (as opposed to 2020, when "landlords bent over backwards to not evict laggard rent payers," he said). That, in turn, will push non-national tenants to pay their rents on time, driving higher collection rates.