From Housingwire, MHProNews.com learns that the homeownership rate is now at 65.5 percent, a new low. The last time the rate was that low was 1997. Also from the report, vacant units that were held off market comprised 5.4 percent of the total housing stock. Of these, 1.7 percent were for occasional use, 1 percent were temporarily occupied by persons with a usual residence elsewhere, and 2.7 percent were vacant for a variety of other reasons. In a related article at MSNBC, who took another look at the report, the number of houses occupied by renters rose faster than the pace of new vacancies created by homeowners moved out. The number of housing units occupied by renters rose by 749,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared while 91,000 fewer homes were owner-occupied.
