diff --git a/changelog/4329.bugfix.rst b/changelog/4329.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6acfe7e61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/4329.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix TypeError in report_collect with _collect_report_last_write.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/terminal.py b/src/_pytest/terminal.py
index a00dc0842..dde2750be 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/terminal.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/terminal.py
@@ -497,7 +497,10 @@ class TerminalReporter(object):
         if not final:
             # Only write "collecting" report every 0.5s.
             t = time.time()
-            if self._collect_report_last_write > t - 0.5:
+            if (
+                self._collect_report_last_write is not None
+                and self._collect_report_last_write > t - 0.5
+            ):
                 return
             self._collect_report_last_write = t