Housing Vacancy Survey · Homeownership and vacancy rates, not seasonally adjusted
How many US homes are owned, and how many are empty?
The quarter ended : of the 3 lines, the change over a year was largest for Rental vacancy rate, up 0.5 percentage points, and smallest for Homeowner vacancy rate, unchanged.
Homeownership and vacancy rates, homeownership and vacancy, each quarter
- Homeownership rate65.563.5 to 67.9
- Rental vacancy rate7.65.6 to 7.6
- Homeowner vacancy rate1.20.7 to 1.8
Each row is one line of the page over the last ten years, one quarter to a point, on a scale shared by the rows of the tab, with its newest value and its range printed beside it and a dashed line at zero. A gap is a quarter with no value. Pointing at the chart shows the quarter and the value.
Observed .
Right now
Over a year to the third quarter of 2026, of the 3 lines on this page the change was largest for Rental vacancy rate, up 0.5 percentage points, and smallest for Homeowner vacancy rate, unchanged.
Of these lines, 2 rose, 0 fell and 1 did not change over the year (ours, from the published values).
By lineOver a year, ours
Homeownership and vacancy rates, change over a year, by line
Each bar is the change in one line over a year, the largest first, with its rank at the left and its newest value under the figure. A line with its own page links it from its name. A change below zero runs to the left of the zero line. The colour says which section of the page a line is in.
Observed .
Homeownership and vacancy rates, change over a year in each quarter
| Line | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homeownership rate | 0.0 | −0.5 | −0.6 | −0.3 | 0.0 | +0.2 | 0.0 | +0.2 |
| Rental vacancy rate | +0.3 | +0.5 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.3 | +0.2 | +0.3 | +0.5 |
| Homeowner vacancy rate | +0.2 | +0.3 | +0.2 | +0.2 | +0.1 | 0.0 | +0.1 | 0.0 |
Each chip is one quarter's change from the same quarter a year earlier. The mark in its middle is zero: a fill to the right of it is a rise and a fill to the left a fall. A longer, brighter fill is a larger change, in five steps up to 0.5 and over. Every chip prints its figure and sign.
Observed .
Understanding homeownership and vacancy
Where it stands today
The largest change over a year was Rental vacancy rate, up 0.5 percentage points, in the third quarter of 2026.
What do the lines of this page measure?
This page shows three quarterly rates from the Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey: the share of occupied homes that their owners live in, the share of rental homes that are vacant and for rent, and the share of owner homes that are vacant and for sale.
Read more
What 500metrics adds: the change over a year of every line, ranked across the page; the last ten years of every line as rows of small charts; and a table of the change over a year in each of the last twelve quarters. Lines with a link have a page of their own with the history since the series begins.
The numbers behind the chart
What is the latest value of each line?3 lines, in the sections of the page
| Line | Section | Quarter | Value | Change over a year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homeownership rate | Homeownership and vacancy | 65.5% | +0.2 pts | 2 | |
| Rental vacancy rate | Homeownership and vacancy | 7.6% | +0.5 pts | 1 | |
| Homeowner vacancy rate | Homeownership and vacancy | 1.2% | 0.0 pts | 3 |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
What do these figures leave out, and how are they cited?Limits, dates and how to cite
What this number cannot tell you
- The rates come from the Housing Vacancy Survey, part of the Current Population Survey, a sample of households, so each carries sampling error; the Census Bureau publishes a confidence interval for each rate.
- A quarter is dated by its first month here and by its end in the sentence at the top of the page. The Census Bureau does not adjust these three rates for the season; it publishes a separate seasonally adjusted homeownership rate.
- The changes, the ranks and the highest and lowest values are ours, worked out from the values the Census Bureau publishes; a change is in percentage points.
- This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.
Observed . Checked .
How to cite this
U.S. Census Bureau, Economic Indicators. This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau., Homeownership and vacancy rates, not seasonally adjusted, through the third quarter of 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "How many US homes are owned, and how many are empty?", https://500metrics.com/homeownership-and-vacancy.
Can the data be downloaded?homeownership-and-vacancy.csv
Download the last ten years of every line as CSV: 123 rows, to , 7,842 bytes.
Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.
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