The rental market continues to tighten as homeownership rates continue to decline , according to a report released recently by the Census Bureau. The Housing Vacancy Survey highlights residential vacancies and homeownership rates on a quarterly basis. National vacancy rates in the fourth quarter of 2012 were 8.7% for rental housing and 1.9% for homeowner housing. The rental vacancy rate is now 0.7 percentage points lower than the previous year, and the homeowner vacancy rate is 0.4 percentage points lower. The fourth quarter’s homeownership rate of 65.4% is 0.6 percentage points lower than a year ago at that time. Rental vacancy rates of urban (8.7%), suburban (8.6%) and locations outside Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) (9.6%) were not statistically different from each other, but vacancy rates within cities have decreased by almost a full percentage point since fourth quarter 2011, a much bigger decline than was observed in either suburbs or outside of MSAs. The homeowner vacancy rate in cities (2.5%) was higher than in suburbs (1.6%), though not statistically different from areas outside MSAs (2.1%). Homeowner vacancy rates have decreased by 0.5 percentage points in suburbs since fourth quarter 2011. There were approximately 17.9 million vacant housing units in the fourth quarter of 2012, but just 21.5% of those units were for-rent and 8.3% were for sale. The remaining vacant units are either rented or sold but not yet occupied (5.2%), for seasonal use (24.2%) or they are being held off the market (40.7%). It is likely that many of the units being held off the market are units in foreclosure that are not being marketed. A geographic analysis shows the rental vacancy rate was highest in the South (10.7%), though it was lower than 2011’s rate of 12%. The homeowner vacancy rate was also highest in the South (2.2%). Trends show homeowner vacancy rates lower than a year ago in the Midwest and West, while rates in the Northeast and South were not statistically different from fourth quarter 2011 rates. The Midwest showed the highest homeownership rates (69.7%), while the West carried the lowest rate of homeownership (59.5%). The South displayed lower homeownership rates than the fourth quarter of 2011, while rates in other regions were not statistically different from those of the preceding year. A new feature of the fourth quarter 2012 data publication is the Time Series/ Trend Charts application. This online tool allows users to compile data from the Housing Vacancies and Homeownership survey as well as other reports and surveys released by the Census Bureau. Users can custom select years, categories and geographic characteristics to view data in table, bar chart or line chart form.Residential Vacancies and Homeownership in the Fourth Quarter 2012, along with the new Time Series/Trend Charts application, can be found at http://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/