Census Reports Portland/Vancouver Multifamily Vacancy at 4.5%

The U.S. Census Bureau reported today the Portland/Vancouver/Beaverton vacancy rate rose from 4.2 percent in Q2 2012 to 4.5 percent in the third quarter, making it 9th lowest vacancy rates among the top 75 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). This estimate is slightly above the 3.6 percent vacancy rate reported by the Metro Multifamily Housing Association in its Fall, 2012 survey.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA ranked #24 with a Q3 2012 vacancy estimate of 7.3 percent, up 4.1 percent from the prior quarter.

The nation's 10 lowest vacancy rates were as follows:

• Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NJ - 1.0%
• Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA - 2.1%
• San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA -2.5%
• Syracuse, NY - 2.7%
• Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA - 3.4%
• Alburquerque, NM - 3.8% (Tie)
• Toledo, OH - 3.8% (Tie)
• Worcester, MA - 3.9%
• Columbia, SC - 4.1%
• Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA - 4.5%
• Denver-Aurora, CO - 4.6%

The MSA's with the five highest vacancy rates were as follows:

• Tucson, AZ - 15.3%
• Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI- 15.5%
• Orlando, FL - 15.7%
• Richmond, VA - 20.7%
• Dayton, OH - 25.7%

Average national vacancy rates in the third quarter 2012 were 8.6 percent for rental housing and 1.9 percent for homeowner housing, the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau announced today. The rental vacancy rate of 8.6 percent was 1.2 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in the third quarter 2011 (+/-0.4 percentage points) and approximately the same as the rate last quarter (+/-0.4)*.  The homeowner vacancy rate of 1.9 percent was 0.5 percentage points lower than Q3 2011 (+/-0.2) and 0.2 percentage points lower (+/-0.1) than the rate last quarter (2.1 percent).
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