Census Bureau Third-Quarter Housing Data: Homeownership Rate 65.5%, Rental Vacancy Rate 7.6%
The U.S. Census Bureau released its third-quarter 2026 housing vacancy and homeownership statistics on October 28 (release CB26-161). The national homeownership rate was 65.5%, not statistically different from the 65.3% recorded in the third quarter of 2025 or the 65.0% in the second quarter of 2026. The rental vacancy rate was 7.6%, above the 7.1% of a year earlier and the 7.3% of the previous quarter, while the homeowner vacancy rate held at 1.2%, unchanged both year over year and quarter over quarter.
The median asking rent for vacant rental units was $1,541 a month, and the median asking price for vacant for-sale units was $353,600. Rental vacancy was highest inside principal cities at 8.8%, compared with 6.5% in the suburbs and 6.4% outside metropolitan areas. The South posted the nation's highest rental vacancy rate at 9.2% and the highest homeowner vacancy rate at 1.5%, while the Northeast's rental vacancy rate rose to 6.2% from 5.0% a year earlier and the West's rose to 6.7% from 6.0%.
The nation's housing stock totaled 149,812,000 units in the third quarter, with an occupancy rate of 89.4%. Owner-occupied units made up 58.6% of the inventory and renter-occupied units 30.9%; 8.2% of units were vacant year-round, about 2.3% were seasonal vacancies, and 4.3% were held off the market for other reasons.
The figures come from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey and Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS) and are not seasonally adjusted. The fourth-quarter 2026 release is scheduled for February 2, 2027.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美国一处公寓社区外观（资料图）。Architecturist 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Exterior view of an apartment community in the United States (file photo). Photo by Architecturist, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
