Despite what current house prices may lead you to believe, the United States has approximately 16 million vacant homes according to a recent study.
The study by LendingTree defined a vacant home as uninhabited for any reason, including but not exclusive to being abandoned or in a dilapidated state, being available on the market, or simply not in use.
Leading the way in vacancy rate was Vermont with 78,052 vacant homes - making up 22.86% of their market. Following closely behind is Maine with 171,323 vacant homes (22.68%), and Alaska coming in third with 65,929 vacant homes (20.51%).
By comparison, Oregon has the nation's lowest vacancy rate with 141,983 (7.76%) vacant. It's followed by Washington with 255,063 (7.87%) and Connecticut with 123,819 vacant (8.09%).
California is among the three states that have over one million vacant homes — with a total of 1,248,161 counted. Florida has even more, with 1,680,844 vacant homes. Texas takes third place, with 1,216,084 vacant homes.
The golden state ranked 46th in total vacancy rate, with 8.68% and a median home value of $593,400.
If so many homes are vacant, why are prices so high?
Good question. According to Lending Tree, "vacancy rates alone can’t fully explain why homes are so expensive. But that doesn’t mean that vacancy rates are unimportant."
For example, the high number of vacancies combined with the high cost of houses in California indicates its a desirable state with unique characterisitcs that may be targeted by vacationers or investors, the lending marketplace wrote.
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