Census Report: 18.4 Million Vacant Homes in US
The US Census Bureau released it s quarterly vacancy and homeownership report Tuesday, showing that the percentage of Americans owning homes dipped in the fourth quarter, from 66.9 percent to 66.5 percent. The level is the lowest since 1998 and well below the peak of 69.2 set in 2004. Homeownership is declining at what some analysts call an alarming rate, even though affordability is near an all-time high, prices are near historic lows, and inventories are still very high.
Possible even more concerning, analysts say, is the nation's vacancy rate. Out of almost 131 million housing units across the nation, 112.5 million are currently occupied. 74.8 million of those are owned, a figure which has dropped by only about 30,000 over the last year. 38 million are rentals, which is about a million higher than last year's fourth quarter. The data means that more new households are opting to rent rather than buy.
As for vacancies, there were 18.4 million homes with nobody living in them in 2010's final quarter, or 11 percent of all US homes. The number is actually an improvement of about 427,000 over last year. But, the number of vacant homes for rent dropped by 493,000, even as demand for rentals picked up. 471,000 homes, meanwhile, are listed as “held off market”. About half of those are vacation properties or second homes, while the other half are likely foreclosures. And that doesn't mean that the shadow inventory is just 200,000, analysts say it's likely quite a bit higher.
The recent housing crisis seems to have taken a toll on Americans' desire to own a home. Banks and loan servicers are holding on to hundreds of thousands of properties, and it isn't entirely clear when or how they will finally sell them.
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