US Census: 11% Homes Vacant

[Kludge]

Interesting numbers... Not terribly confident in Census numbers, though...

"...

There were 18.4 million vacant homes in the U.S. in Q4 '10 (11 percent of all housing units vacant all year round), which is actually an improvement of 427,000 from a year ago, but not for the reasons you'd think.

The number of vacant homes for rent fell by 493 thousand, as rental demand rose. 471,000 homes are listed as "Held off Market" about half for temporary use, but the other half are likely foreclosures. And no, the shadow inventory isn't just 200,000, it's far higher than that.

...

Younger Americans have seen what home ownership has done to their friends and families, and many want no part of it. Credit has become very nearly elitist.

..."

Full story @ http://www.cnbc.com/id/41355854

[DamianTV]

11% of homes are vacant? Or did their occupants just not answer their door for what ever their reason was? (illegal immigrants, squatters, actual tennants that were already evicted...)

[Kludge]

11% of homes are vacant? Or did their occupants just not answer their door for what ever their reason was? (illegal immigrants, squatters, actual tennants that were already evicted...)

That was my first thought.

[DamianTV]

Second thought is about those houses in Detroit that are all foreclosed, abandoned, for sale for $100 bucks, and completely destroyed from the inside out.

I also remember hearing a lot of stories about people that are being evicted taking everything (cabinets, carpet, lights, doors, toilets, yes, even the kitchen sink) out of the house and pouring cement down the drains and damaging the house as much as possible so the banks wont be able to sell them.

[hugolp]

Second thought is about those houses in Detroit that are all foreclosed, abandoned, for sale for $100 bucks, and completely destroyed from the inside out.

The thing is houses in Europe are not made of wood, so they are more resistant. If what we saw in Detroit happened in the UK it would look way weirder, more like a ghost town.

[Zippyjuan]

A "vacant" home may also mean a second home. The familiy lives in one home part of the year, the other home the rest of the year. You do get a "natural" vacancy rate too with homes between sellers or between renters. "Held off the market" could be a home which has not sold for the price the owner would like and has taken off the market.

[ItsTime]

Just asked my girl, who did the census, what "vacant" meant. She said vacant means it looks like no one lives there. Broken windows, overgrown lawns, no furniture inside. Well kept "second homes" wouldnt go on that list. She said she didnt come across many of those, however she came across a lot of lots that were suppose to have homes on them that had no homes. Which would go in "uninhabitable".

[oyarde]

Just asked my girl, who did the census, what "vacant" meant. She said vacant means it looks like no one lives there. Broken windows, overgrown lawns, no furniture inside. Well kept "second homes" wouldnt go on that list. She said she didnt come across many of those, however she came across a lot of lots that were suppose to have homes on them that had no homes. Which would go in "uninhabitable".

About what I figured.

[Zippyjuan]

Thanks for the inside info.

[CUnknown]

I was a team leader for the census last year. I recently heard that they considered this one one of the most accurate censuses ever... sort of blew my mind.. knowing how it all went down, I have some small amount of faith in the 2010 numbers... but just about zero faith in any of the others, if they really were worse!

There is a lot of inaccuracy in the numbers, I'm guessing. But that being said, there really are a ton of vacants out there, 11% doesn't seem so far off. Vacants include a lot of things, from second homes (yes, these are included as vacants) to abandoned. It's true it doesn't include empty lots. Vacants specifically are double and triple checked, and we have to find someone to go on record to say that they are vacant.

If people followed the rules that we were supposed to have followed, I'd have a lot of confidence in the numbers. But it's just I know for a fact that often we didn't follow them.. so maybe this census was one of the better ones, but I still don't have much confidence... because most census workers don't give a crap and are just happy to get paid...