More Homes Standing Vacant As Home Values Stabilize

Many home owners have been holding onto devalued properties in desperate hope that the value of their homes would recover enough so that they could recover some of their investment when they put their property up for sale. It is looking now like the sliding home values have hit that bottom that home owners have been waiting for. Unfortunately, at present we are also experiencing a huge volume of vacant properties across the nation, potentially making for a less than ideal situation in which to put your home up for sale.

According to the census bureau homeownership fell to 67.2% at the end of 2009 which puts current levels of ownership at the lowest rate in ten years. Understandably, home ownership is lowest in areas where the cost of owning a home is highest and the biggest drops have occurred in the states that have been hardest hit with foreclosures. Vacancy rates have risen as home ownership has fallen; there were approximately 100,000 more homes sitting vacant at the end of 2009 than there were only mere months earlier. (more…)