New Study Found Nearly1.7 Million Homes Vacant in Florida

Florida Has the Most Vacant Homes in the U.S.

A new study released by LendingTree found that over 16 million homes in the U.S. are vacant, and Florida has the most vacant homes in the country with nearly 1.7 million vacant housing units.

The U.S. has a total of 140.44 million homes, with 124 million of those homes occupied. Here are the top five states with the highest rate of vacant housing units.

Source: LendingTree

The researchers at LendingTree used data from the U.S. Census Bureau to determine the states with the highest number of vacant homes.

With the issue of housing supply being top of mind for all of us, the idea of this many vacant housing units is confusing while home prices continue to rise.

So, Why are Housing Prices Still Rising?

Theoretically, you’d think with this many vacant homes home prices wouldn’t be rising at the double-digit rate they've been over the past two years. Unfortunately, the number of vacant homes can’t explain why home prices are so high.

There are plenty of other factors that lead to high home prices, such as location, demographics, mortgage rates available for borrowers, and home characteristics like square footage, to name a few.

In the case of Florida, high home prices and high vacancy rates boil down to the states’ unique characteristics, like the prevalence of vacation markets and investor interest.

Just because a home is deemed “vacant” doesn’t necessarily mean that the home isn’t owned by someone, whether that’s an individual, family, investor, or bank. The top 1% of vacation home counties are located in 16 states, with Florida’s Lee County ranking first.

“When you say 1.6 million vacant homes, that means to me there is someone controlling the market artificially," Tampa Bay area real estate agent Louie Talacay said in an interview with .

Talacay went on to say that outside investors hold a large share of real estate in Florida.

Below is a pie chart that illustrates how vacant housing units in the U.S. are used.:

Please note that this chart is using data from 2017, however, in 2017 the number of vacant homes in the U.S. was still around 17 million.

Source: Census Bureau’s American Community Survey

One-third of vacant homes in America are vacant related to one of these three reasons:

• Temporary churn: Housing units that are between occupants

• Abandonment: Housing units that are unused and not for sale or rent

• Second homes: Housing units that are empty when the Census Bureau attempts to contact

Although popular markets may not contain vacant housing units, hot vacation markets like Miami, Orlando, and Tampa have the highest vacancy rates in the nation.

• Miami - 17.1% vacancy rate

• Orlando - 15.9% vacancy rate

• Tampa - 15.3% vacancy rate

These vacant housing units add to the issue of low housing supply, which has created an extremely competitive market for homebuyers.

Tampa Housing Inventory

Miami Housing Inventory

Orlando Housing Inventory

Ultimately, the number of vacant homes isn’t the only factor that influences the housing market. Regardless of how many homes are unoccupied in Florida, home prices haven’t plateaued and demand is still high. More housing development is the only way for home prices to decrease and meet homebuyer demand.