U.S. Homeowner Vacancy Rate Falls Amid Tight Housing Supply
This article is for subscribers only.
The U.S. homeowner vacancy rate dropped to 1.5 percent in the first quarter, a sign that houses aren’t going to waste amid a residential supply crunch.
The rate was down from 1.7 percent a year earlier and 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report Thursday. It has fallen to 1.5 percent several times since the mid-1990s and was last lower than that in the third quarter of 1994, when it was 1.4 percent. The vacancy rate is the proportion of the non-vacation-home inventory that is vacant and for sale.