Thursday, March 20, 2008

WSJ: Home Vacancy Rates Post Sharp Increase

If you haven't guessed, I regularly read the Wall Street Journal. Its one of the few publications left that seems to do excellent investigative journalism.
IN THIS ARTICLE
its noted that the home vacancy rate has gone up to 2.8%.

"The higher the vacancy rate, the greater is the degree of stress on pricing," said Jim Diffley, managing director of regional services at economic-research firm Global Insight in Waltham, Mass. "It's a measure of how far the market is out of whack."



Normally I avoid blogging about Florida, its disheartening how out of whack the bubble is there. But look at those concentrations. Ugh... The article goes off track at the end and ignores that the latest census data that shows Florida's 'growing population' has slowed and job growth... Well that looks to be in reverse.

The article has an interactive graph that is worth looking at. It shows amazing levels of unoccupied housing in Las Vegas, Florida, California (Sacramento being the poster child), and all around NYC. The table above shows the worst poster children.

Got Popcorn?
Neil

2 comments:

smf said...

Just like I have said for a long time. This is not just an issue of high prices, but of way too much inventory.

'There are more houses than people existing to occupy them, at any price point'

I had a blog discussion where someone was stating that houses 'cannot go back to 0'.

I would disagree. Some houses may eventually be demolished, after suffering bening neglect for a few years.

At the same time, when prices are said to have gone down 30%, it doesn't mean that all houses have gone down that much. Some may have gone down less, some more.

wannabuy said...

I would disagree. Some houses may eventually be demolished, after suffering bening neglect for a few years.

I 100% agree. There will be bulldozers a la Houston after the last oil bust.

Some places will drop more, some less, but its funny how time 'peanut butters' everything.

Got Popcorn?
Neil

ps
The "Spring bounce" in inventory happened later this year. The colder winder might have contributed (might not too). This bounce is just starting the process. I'm going to wait before doing new graphs; quite a few of the areas I'm tracking do not do a great job of updating their MLS until 5pm EST or even by noon tomorrow (Hey, as long as there is a listing prior to the open house...)