National Homeownership & Rental Vacancy Rates Hold Firm

The U.S. government is reporting that the national vacancy rates in Q2 2018 were 6.8% for rental housing and 1.5% for homeowner housing. The rental vacancy rate was 0.5 percentage points lower than the rate in Q2 2017 and not statistically different from the rate in Q1 2018. The homeowner vacancy rate was virtually unchanged from the rate in Q2 2017 and Q1 2018. The homeownership rate of 64.3% was not statistically different from Q2 2017 nor from Q1 2018. In addition, approximately 87.7% of the housing units in the United States in Q2 2018 were occupied and 12.3% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 56.3% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 31.3% of the inventory in Q2 2018. Vacant year-round units comprised 9.5% of total housing units, while 2.9% were for seasonal use.