This one is in the preemptive strike category. Reporters should pay attention to the new Census Bureau data on vacancy rates and homeownership. In the first quarter, the vacancy rate on ownership units hit 2.9 percent. Before the recent crash, the vacancy rate on ownership units had never exceeded 1.9 percent. The rental vacancy rate also rose, although at 10.1 percent it is still slightly below the record of 10.4 percent set in the first quarter of 2004. Not surprisingly, the West showed the biggest increase in vacant ownership units, with the rate rising from 2.6 percent last year to 3.2 percent this year. The seasonally adjusted ownership rate stood at 67.9 percent, 1.2 percentage points below the peak of 69.2 percent in the first quarter of 2005. For blacks the picture looks considerably worse. The homeownership rate fell to 47.1 percent, 1.7 percentage points below the peak of 48.8 percent reached in the first quarter of 2005. This is the lowest rate of homeownership for blacks since 1999, which is of course well before the surge in subprime lending. The data in this report are big news and deserve attention.
--Dean Baker
