The national vacancy rates in the third quarter 1969 were 5.0 percent in rental housing and 1.0 percent in homeowner housing. These rates are at approximately the same level as the corresponding rates for the previous two quarters of the year.

Vacancy rates in homeowner and rental housing in the United States moved generally downward in recent years. Between the first half of 1966 and the first quarter of 1969, the vacancy rate in homeowner housing dropped from 1.4 percent to 0.9 percent and continued at the lower level through the current quarter. The rental vacancy rate, which registered 7.7 percent

in the final quarter of

1965, declined to 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter 1968 and remained at about that level through the third quarter 1969. These results are based on information obtained in sample surveys conducted by the Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce.

In the third quarter 1969, the rental vacancy rate inside standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSA's) remained at a substantially lower level than the rate outside SMSA's, 4.4 percent as compared with 6.5 percent. The rate of homeowner vacancies in metropolitan areas (0.9 percent) was only slightly lower than the rate in nonmetropolitan areas (1.1 percent). Within SMSA's, the rental and