US Census Bureau Residential Vacancies and Homeownership Report for Q3

On Tuesday, the US Census Bureau released the results of its Quarterly Residential Vacancies and Homeownership report for Q3. National vacancy rates in Q3 were 6.9% for rental housing and 1.0% for homeowner housing.

The rental vacancy rate was not statistically different from 2023Q3 (6.6%) and not statistically different from Q2 (6.6%).

On the other hand, the homeowner vacancy rate of 1.0% was higher than the rate in the 2023Q3 (0.8%) and not statistically different from the rate in Q2 (0.9%).

The homeownership rate of 65.6% was not statistically different from the rate in 2023Q3 (66.0%) and virtually the same as the rate in Q2 (65.6%).

According to Census Bureau data, approximately 89.9% of the housing units in the US in Q3 were occupied and 10.1% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 58.9% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.9% of the inventory. Vacant year-round units comprised 7.8% of total housing units, while 2.3% were vacant for seasonal use. Approximately 2.3% of the total units were vacant for rent, 0.6% were vacant for sale only, and 0.7% were rented or sold but not yet occupied. Vacant units that were held off market comprised 4.2% of the total housing stock. Of these, 1.3% were for occasional use, 0.7% were temporarily occupied by persons with usual residence elsewhere (URE), and 2.3% were vacant for a variety of other reasons.