While housing vacancies are down nationally, the rates vary by region. The NAR’s Economists’ Outlook Blog found the lowest and highest vacancy rates by zip code.
The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area in California had the lowest vacancy rate in 2014, with 4 percent. Two Iowa metros, Iowa City (4.3) and Ames (4.5), finished second and third. Ocean City, N.J., had the highest vacancy rate, by far, at 58.4 percent. Salisbury, Md., was fourth, but the metro had a huge jump from 2011 (13.7 percent to 38.7 percent in 2014).
The blog found that 79 percent of zip codes had vacancy rate less than 25 percent; 16 percent had 25 to 50 percent; 4 percent had 50 to 75 percent; and 1 percent had 75 percent and higher.
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