Long term vacant housing in the United States
Long term vacancy defined as nonseasonal housing units that have been vacant for an unusually long period of time is a useful measure of excess supply in the housing market. In fact, long term vacancy is more strongly correlated with indicators of housing market distress than standard measures of vacancy. At the national level, long term vacancy is relatively uncommon. However, the stock of long term vacant housing is concentrated in a small number of neighborhoods with high long term vacancy rates. Some of these neighborhoods have characteristics suggestive of overbuilding during the housing boom, while others have characteristics symptomatic of persistently weak housing demand.