The share of homes vacant and for sale rose in the fourth quarter after banks seized property from borrowers who defaulted on mortgages.
The homeowner vacancy rate increased to 2.7 percent from 2.6 percent in the third quarter, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report last week. There were 2.09 million empty properties on the market, up from 1.99 million, according to the report.
The rate gained even as the number of properties listed with brokers declined because the survey includes bank-owned homes for sale without a Realtor.
“The vacancy rate captures all the properties that are being held off the market by banks, so it shows how much excess inventory there really is,” said Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass.
There were 18.9 million vacant homes in the fourth quarter, including foreclosures, residences for sale and vacation homes, up from 18.8 million in the third quarter, according to the census report. Kathleen M. Howley, Bloomberg News
