WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Putting further downward pressure on home prices, the number of vacant homes in the United States increased by 1 million over the past year to a record 18.6 million, according to government data released Monday.
The vacancy rate for homes usually occupied by the owners rose to a record 2.3 million homes from 2.2 million in the fourth quarter, and was at about 1 million more than was typical before the housing bubble burst.
Analysts say the housing market won't recover until the glut of vacant homes on the market can be worked down. "There is clearly still substantial excess housing supply that will take time to work off," wrote economists for Goldman Sachs. "We think it unlikely that prices begin to stabilize until vacancy rates start declining."
The homeowner-vacancy rate rose to a record 2.9% in the first quarter from 2.8% in the fourth quarter, about 1 percentage point higher than normal. The vacancy rate has jumped in all four regions of the country, as well as in cities, suburbs and rural areas since the housing bubble exploded.
The total U.S. housing stock increased by 2.1 million to 129.4 million in the past year, with about half of that gain accounted for by the increase in vacancies. Much of the newer stock of housing is vacant, the data show.
Of all housing units built for owner-occupancy since April 2000, 10.2% were vacant, up from 8.8% in the fourth quarter and 4.7% two years ago.
While the vacancy rate for single-family homes has risen to 2.5%, the most dramatic increases in vacancies has been in smaller condominium projects.
For all owner-occupied buildings with two to four housing units, 9.4% were vacant, up from 8.1% last quarter. In all owner-occupied buildings with five to nine housing units, the vacancy rate was 15.2%, up from 12.2% last quarter and double the rate of two years earlier.
Vacancy rates in larger condo buildings have fallen from 8.7% a year ago to 6.3%.
Families are no more likely to own their home now than they were in 2002, even with the big effort to push families with poor credit into homeownership through subprime mortgages. The percentage of homes occupied by owners ticked up to 67.9% from 67.7%, after peaking at 69.2% in 2004.