The residential real estate market in America has been described as out of control. Prices in some markets have risen 50% over the last two years. Nationwide, home prices were up almost 20% in 2021. While several conditions have contributed to the rise, none is more obvious than historically low mortgage rates. Recently, as interest rates have risen, these days have vanished.
Real estate prices also rose as people moved from expensive coastal cities like New York and San Francisco to inland cities like Boise and Nashville. Median home prices in San Franciso run about three times the national figure of $350,000. Lower real estate prices were often married with an overall lower cost of living.
Another contributor to American mobility and home prices began with the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies required employees to work from home for safety. Many will not be asked to go back or may become part of a hybrid workforce.
Unexpectedly, some states have high numbers of unoccupied houses. Lending Tree released a new study titled “16 Million Homes Are Vacant in the U.S. — Here Are the States With the Highest Vacancy Rates”. Some of these homes are damaged enough to be uninhabitable. Others may be for sale and not occupied. Yet others are summer houses that are not occupied year-round.
The Census Bureau provided data on homes that have no occupants and Lending Tree used this to provide its ranking.
The state with the largest number of occupied homes, on a percentage basis, is Vermont at 22.86%. Maine is second at 22.68%, followed by Alaska at 20.51%. The authors point out that “In total, that translates to more than 315,000 unoccupied houses across the three states.”
At the far end of the list, the vacancy rate in Oregon is 7.76%, followed by Washington at 8.87%, and Connecticut at 8.09%. The analysis shows that “With almost 521,000 unoccupied housing units across the three states, there are nearly 206,000 more vacant homes across Oregon, Washington and Connecticut than in Vermont, Maine and Alaska.”
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