US Residential Vacancies and Homeownership Statistics for Q4

The US Census Bureau recently announced the results of its Quarterly Residential Vacancies and Homeownership report for 2024Q4.

The national vacancy rates in Q4 were 6.9% for rental housing and 1.1% for homeowner housing. The rental vacancy rate was not statistically different from the rate in 2023Q4 (6.6%) and virtually the same as the rate in Q3 (6.9%). The homeowner vacancy rate was higher than the rate in 2023Q4 (0.9%) and not statistically different from the rate in Q3 (1.0%).

The homeownership rate of 65.7% was virtually the same as the rate in 2023Q4 (65.7%) and not statistically different from the rate in Q3 (65.6%).

Approximately 89.8% of the housing units in the US in Q4 were occupied and 10.2% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 59.0% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.8% of the inventory.

The vacancy breakdown is as follows:

• Vacant year-round units comprised 8.0% of total housing units, while 2.2% were vacant for seasonal use.
• Approximately 2.3% of the total units were vacant for rent, 0.7% were vacant for sale only, and 0.5% were rented or sold but not yet occupied.
• Vacant units that were held off market comprised 4.5% 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 2.4% were vacant for a variety of other reasons.