U.S. Census Bureau Releases Housing Vacancy Survey for Q4 2020

The U.S. Census Bureau has released its Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS) for Q4 2020. According to the report U.S. homeownership rate declined to 65.8% in Q4. Year-over-year the national homeownership vacancy rated decreased, while the rental vacancy rate was flat. In greater detail: The national vacancy rate in Q4 was 6.5% for rental housing and 1.0% for homeowner housing. The rental vacancy rate of 6.5% was little changed from the Q4 2019 rate of 6.4% and Q3 2020 rate of 6.4%. The homeowner vacancy rate of 1.0% was -0.4% points lower than the rate in Q4 2019 of 1.4% and not statistically different from the rate in the Q3 2020 of 0.9%. The homeownership rate of 65.8% was 0.7% points higher than the rate in Q4 2019 of 65.1% and -1.6 percentage points lower than the rate in Q3 of 2020 at 67.4%. However, it is important to note, that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic likely affected the estimates of homeownership rates, vacancy rates, and the components of housing inventory, with the exception of total housing inventory unaffected.