John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... In an earlier blog I wrote that a new Colorado Division of Housing report showed that rental home vacancies in the second quarter rose to 5.2 percent, a percentage point higher than a year earlier. It was the highest vacancy rate since the fourth quarter of 2006, when the home vacancy rate was 5.5 percent.
Typically, home rental vacancy rates fall in the third quarter from the second quartr.
For example, last year, the vacancy rate fell from 4.2 percent to 3.4 percent.
“Housing rentals are more affected by seasonality than the regular apartment market,” Gordon Von Stroh, the University of Denver business professor who authored the report said.
Bob Alldredge, principal of Jericho Properties, noted that the third-quarter ends in September, and many people want to be in their new home by then, which helps drive down the vacancy rate in the third quarter from the second quarter.
But maybe not this year.
“I think vacancy rates are going to bump up in the third quarter,” Von Stroh told me. “There is a lot of supply of homes out there could end up on the market.”
In addition, the still sluggish economy, and people either unable to find jobs or fearful of losing their jobs, could put a damper on renters and buyers, making any type of decision in the near-term, noted Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing.
And Susan Melton, principal of Assured Properties, said she also thinks that the third-quarter will buck its historical, seasonal trend, and vacancy rates will not decline in the third quarter.
“I don’t think we’re going to see a dip until the fourth quarter,” she said.
[...] Home rental vacancies likely to rise in third quarter: In an earlier blog I wrote that a new Colorado Division of Housing report showed that rental home vacancies in the second quarter rose to 5.2 percent, a percentage point higher than a year earlier. It was the highest vacancy rate since the fourth quarter of 2006, when the home vacancy rate was 5.5 percent. Typically, home rental vacancy rates fall in the third quarter from the second quarter. For example, last year, the vacancy rate fell from 4.2 percent to 3.4 percent. Go to Article (Insiderealestatenews.com) [...]