Third Quarter Home-ownership Lowest in 18 Years, but Higher Than Q2

Homeowner and rental vacancy rates were essentially flat during the third quarter of 2013.  The Census Bureau reported on Tuesday that the vacancy rate for residential rental property was 8.3 percent, up 0.1 percentage points from the second quarter and 0.3 percentage points lower than in the third quarter of 2012.  Homeowner vacancies were virtually unchanged from both the previous quarter and a year earlier at 1.9 percent.

There were approximately 132.85 million housing units in the U.S. in the third quarter, an increase of about 363,000 from one year earlier.  The number of occupied units was 114.39 million, up from 114.77 million. Of those occupied units about 74.9 million were occupied by their owners during both periods while renters occupied 39.87 million units in the third quarter of 2013 compared to 39.51 million during the same period in 2012.