US census board figures give glimmer of hope for real estate recovery
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US recovery could be underway
More than 18.7 million residential properties stood empty in the US during the second quarter of this year as the steepest recession in 50 years sapped demand for real estate and banks seized properties from delinquent borrowers.
But the latest figures from the US Census Bureau are a boost for those in the real estate industry who claim that a recovery is underway.
They show that the number of vacant properties, including foreclosures, residences for sale and vacation homes, was up only slightly from 8.6 million a year earlier and that property values have fallen 33% since 2006.
The percentage of all US homes empty and for sale, known as the vacancy rate, fell to 2.5% in the quarter compared with a high of 2.9% in the first and fourth quarters of 2008.
