Rental Vacancies Recovered. For-Sale Vacancies Remain Scarce.
This chart separates the Census rental vacancy rate from the measure officially called the homeowner vacancy rate. The latter means vacant year-round homes offered for sale divided by the homeowner inventory; the two panels have different denominators and should not be subtracted.
Census calls the for-sale measure the ‘homeowner vacancy rate’: vacant year-round homes for sale only, divided by the homeowner inventory. It is not the share of all homes that are empty.
What does it show?
Rental availability has normalized much more than the inventory of year-round homes offered for sale, helping explain why rental and ownership markets can feel so different.
Methodology
Four-quarter moving averages of the Census Housing Vacancy Survey's not-seasonally-adjusted rental vacancy rate (RRVRUSQ156N) and homeowner vacancy rate (RHVRUSQ156N). Rental vacancy is vacant-for-rent units as a share of rental inventory; the homeowner vacancy rate is vacant year-round units for sale only divided by owner-occupied units plus units sold but awaiting occupancy plus units vacant for sale only. Seasonal, held-off-market and other vacant homes are excluded. The rates share a percent unit but have different denominators and should not be subtracted.