Although the housing market has turned positive, homeownership rates have remained unchanged. For Q312, homeownership rates stayed the same at 65.5%, which is a 0.8% decrease from a year prior, reported the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau.
Homeownership continues to remain at a 16-year low even with the housing recovery in full effect. This shows that investor demand will continue to play a critical role in market recovery, according to Capital Economics.
For Q312, national vacancy rates were 8.6% for rental housing, which decreased 1.2% from a year prior. The homeowner vacancy rates were 1.9%, which is 0.5% decrease from Q311.
Supply conditions in the rental market continue to remain tight, which reflects in the housing price gains. The Case-Shiller price index confirms, showing a rise of 0.9% from August.
Among regions, rental vacancy was lowest in the Northeast at 7.1% and in the West at 6.5%. It was highest in in the South at 10.5%.
For Q312, 86.3% of housing units in the U.S. were occupied, while 13.7% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing fell again, which made up 56.5% of total units, while renters made up 29.8% of the units.
