,1

SECOND QUARTER 1955

Available vacant dwelling units in the United States amount ed to 2.3 percent of the Nation's housing during the second quarter 1955, according to the final results of a sample survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. An available vacant dwelling unit is a unit which is intended for year-round use, is not dilapidated, and is offered for rent or sale. The rate of 2.3 percent is the average for the three months, April, May, and June. For the United States it represents an increase since April 1950, when the available vacancy rate was 1.6 percent. The increase was

as a whole,

Total vacancies

In addition to the available vacant dwelling units, which make up the supply of housing on the market, there are other types of vacancies which must be taken into account when analyzing the vacancy situation. These include units which were already rented or sold or were held off the market by the owner, dilapidated units, and seasonal units. (Units temporarily occupied by persons with usual place of residence elsewhere were included with vacant units.)

Year-round units which were not dilapidated and which had been rented or sold, but not yet occupied, amounted to 0.5 percent of the total housing. The count of such units is often considered part of the potential supply of available units, because as families move into them the units they vacate may become available for occupancy. An additional 1.5 percent of the housing comprised year-round units which were not dilapidated but which were held off the rental and sale market for various other reasons. Some were reserved for occasional use by their owners or were in litigation; others, in rural areas, were left standing idle by farmers who cultivated the land but lived elsewhere; and still others were not offered for rent or sale because they were in places where there was little demand for housing, especially areas where the population in recent years has grown very slowly or has declined. Year-round dilapidated units accounted for 1.2 percent of the total inventory, which was practically the same as the 1950 rate. of this group, many may be abandoned and eventually drop out of the housing inventory. These three groups of year-round units, (rent ed or sold, held off market, and dilapidated), added to the available vacancies, bring the total year-round rate to 5.5 percent, which compares with 4.4 percent in 1950.

The remaining segment of the vacant housing inventory is the seasonal group, which comprises unoccupied units

by nonresidents.

and units temporarily occupied The rate remained virtually

the same as in 1950--2.6 percent in 1955 and 2.5 in 1950.

Compared with 1950, the rates for the various types of vacant units for the United States as a whole were virtually unchanged except for an increase in the percentage of units available for rent and a slight increase in the percentage of units already rented or sold or held off the market for other reasons.

Available vacancies

The 2.3 percent available vacancy rate is the average for the second quarter 1955 and re

flects the level for the United States as a whole. It does not imply that the same relative supply of vacancies exists throughout the Nation.

By geographic region, the available rates in 1955 deviated substantially from the United States average; the rates ranged from 1.2 percent in the Northeast to 3.9 percent in the West (table 1). The deviation was much greater than in 1950. In the Northeast, the available vacancy rate remained practically the same as in 1950; but in the three other regions, the rate increased. of the four regions, the West had the highest rate in both 1955 and 1950, although it did not have the greatest proportionate increase for the 5-year period.

For dwelling units located inside standard metropolitan areas, the available vacancy rate (2.0 percent) was a little lower than for units outside these areas (2.7 percent). (See table 2.) Further, standard metropolitan areas experienced a greater growth in total dwelling units than the territory outside the areas since 1950 (resulting partly from the continued movement of the population toward metropolitan centers), yet they had a much smaller increase in available vacancies than did the outside territory.

Between urban and rural areas for the United States as a whole, there was little difference in the available vacancy rates--2.2 and 2.4 percent, respectively. However, the rural rate increased more since 1950 than the urban rate. This resulted partly from the continued migration of families from rural areas to urban centers, leaving available vacant housing in places where there was little demand for it. Within each region, both the urban and rural rates increased, though by varying amounts, with one exception--the rate for urban units in the Northeast did not change.

In the very largest urban centers (urbanized areas with a million inhabitants or more, as established for the 1950 Census), the available vacancy rate did not increase in the five years and there were relatively fewer vacancies than in the rest of the United States. The rate in both 1950 and 1955 was approximately 1.4 percent. These large urban centers, of which there are 12, contained about 16 percent of the available vacancies in the United States in 1955; whereas in 1950, they contained 22 percent. In both years, the 12 areas contained approximately 25 percent of the total dwelling units.

As indicated above, the available vacancy rates vary substantially from area to area. There are many contributing factors which have differential effects on the areas so that the same rate may indicate an adequate supply of

Although the percentage of rental vacancies increased since 1950, the rent distribution did not change to any extent (table 5). The median for the type of units that were vacant in 1955 was $44. Approximately one-fourth of the units were to rent for less than $30 and one-fourth for $60 or more. As in 1950, there was considerable difference in the rent level between inside and outside standard metropolitan areas--the medians were $50 and $36, respectively. The median size of the nonfarm rental vacancies was 3.2 rooms, practically the same as the median for all available rental vacancies.