A new U.S. Census Bureau report has revealed the national home vacancy rate has increased to 13 percent. While the increase largely reflects the number of foreclosures that continue to negatively affect the market through depressed sale prices and property values, the fact that the data includes vacation homes means the numbers may not accurately mirror the state of the housing market.
Vacancies High In Several States
The number of vacancies increasing nationally from 12.1 percent in 2007 and a few states contributed significantly to this increase. Maine had the highest number of vacancies with a whopping 22.8 percent of homes unoccupied.
Some other states with high vacancy rates included:
- Vermont: 20.5 percent
- Florida: 17.5 percent
- Arizona: 16.3 percent
- Alaska: 15.9 percent
High vacancy rates make it nearly impossible for neighborhoods to overcome lowered property values, which in turn result in more underwater mortgages. Under these conditions, many prospective homeowners are reluctant to purchase homes because they know soon after taking on a mortgage loan, their home’s value could drop, placing them in the same predicament.
Census Data Includes Vacation Homes
One notable difference between Census Bureau data and reports from other real estate statisticians is that the former includes ski lodges, beach houses and pied-à-terres. In other words, the Census report includes homes that are supposed to be vacant except for maybe a few times out of the year.
The Census also includes homes that have been sold but not occupied, empty homes for sale or rent and homes uses by migrant workers. If it’s not a primary home, it falls into the vacant category.
Including these secondary homes affects the data significantly. For instance, reports show that two-thirds of the 160,000 vacancies counted in Maine in 2009 were actually vacation homes.
But some argue that even if the second homes are removed from the equation, vacancies are still high. Florida’s vacancies would still sit at about 10 percent, Arizona at 10.7 percent and Nevada at 11.4 percent, showing that no matter how you look at it, the housing market is in trouble and needs help to slow foreclosures and encourage sales to recover.
[...] to a recent census report, 13% of all homes in the United States are sitting [...]