US Census Bureau Releases Q2 Residential Vacancies and Homeownership Data

On Tuesday, the US Census Bureau released its Residential Vacancies and Homeownership statistics for Q2. National vacancy rates in Q2 were 6.6% for rental housing and 0.9% for homeowner housing.

The homeowner vacancy rate of 0.9% was higher than 0.7% in 2023Q2 and higher than 0.8% in Q1. The homeownership rate of 65.6% was not statistically different from 2023Q2 (65.9%) and virtually the same as in Q1 (65.6%).

The rental vacancy rate of 6.6% was virtually the same as in Q1 (6.6%) but higher than 6.3% in 2023Q2.

In Q2, the median asking rent for vacant for rent units was $1,481. The median asking sales price for vacant for sale units was $329,100.

Approximately 89.6% of the housing units in the US were occupied and 10.4% were vacant in Q2.

• Owner-occupied housing units made up 58.8% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.8% of the inventory.
• Vacant year-round units comprised 8.0% of total housing units, while 2.4% were vacant for seasonal use.
• Approximately 2.2% of the total units were vacant for rent, 0.6% were vacant for sale only, and 0.6% were rented or sold but not yet occupied.
• Vacant units that were held off market comprised 4.6% of the total housing stock—1.4% were for occasional use, 0.7% were temporarily occupied by persons with usual residence elsewhere (URE), and 2.5% were vacant for a variety of other reasons.