From Reuters:
The share of vacant U.S. homes rose to a record level in the first quarter, the
government reported on Monday, with homeowners finding it increasingly difficult
to find buyers in a collapsed market and more homes in foreclosure.
The percentage of owner-occupied homes now sitting empty rose to 2.9 percent in the January-to-March period, the third quarter in a row in which the vacancy rate
increased, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
and:
Homeowner vacancy rates were unchanged from the same time a year ago in both the Midwest and the South, at 2.9 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively. But they
shot up to 3.2 percent in the West, the area hardest hit by the crisis in
risky subprime mortgages, from 2.6 percent a year earlier.
According to the report, it’s a total of 18.6 million homes that are vacant, and the primary cause of the increasing number of vacant homes is the rise of foreclosures. And with the number of foreclosures expected to continue increasing for the foreseeable future, it would not be surprising to see the number of vacant home rise as well.
Still, vacant homes make for desperate sellers – especially the longer they stay empty – and investors who are poised to make them will certainly find that good deals abound.
Photo: vacancy, originally uploaded by Supercapacity.