Housing Vacancies and Homeownership

Well, the numbers are in and not surprisingly, the housing market continues to pull back.  The Census Bureau just released the “Residential Vacancies and Homeownership” report for the forth quarter of 2010.  Here is the data that will make for some interesting headlines….

If you take all of the housing units in the United States (single family, apartments, condos, etc – any property that can be legally lived in by citizens) as a whole, these numbers apply to them.

85.9% of all housing units were occupied – that means that an incredible 14.1% were vacant.  Of that number, 3.3% of the units are for seasonal use – 2^nd homes and properties that are typically only unused for part of a year.  That leaves 10.8% of all housing vacant in the 4^th quarter of 2010.  A simply staggering number.

The 10.8% of vacant homes was ¾% better than 2009.  The 2009 vacancies were the worst on record since the Census Bureau began tracking these figures back in 1965.  Since 1965 we have been as low as 5%.

What accounts for the improvement of 2009 figures?  Rental vacancies have improved significantly (1.3%), signaling a strengthening of the rental market and a good sign for property owners that have rentals.  The homeowner vacancy rates were slightly worse.

Homeownership rates have hit a 6 year low at 66.6% down from the high in 2005 of 69.2%.  Over the past 25 years the lowest homeownership rate was 63.6%

All data taken from “The US Census Bureau”; you can find the complete report here…Housing Vacancies and Homeownership