NAHB recently updated the online tool that provides economic and housing market statistics for all local Home Builder Associations (HBAs). It covers twelve key economic and demographic statistics at three different levels, which allows local HBAs to easily compare local housing markets across the country. This post focuses on the five local HBAs with the lowest homeowner vacancy rates (i.e. the percentage of owned, vacant housing stock for sale).

The homeowner vacancy rate measures how tight an owner-occupied housing market is. A lower homeowner vacancy rate implies a tight market—that is, one in which the demand for owner-occupied units is higher than the supply, in which case it is difficult for a prospective homebuyer to find an available home.

Chart 1 shows the five local HBAs with the lowest homeowner vacancy rates. All of these local HBA areas boast homeowner vacancy rates of less than 1%, roughly one-half the national rate of 2.07%. Big Horn HBA in Wyoming leads the pack with a rate of 0.66%.

Four out of the five local HBAs listed above have fewer than 15,000 owner-occupied housing units. It is also worthwhile to examine larger local HBAs—those with at least 500,000 owner-occupied housing units (the upper 5th percentile). Homeowner vacancy rates of these local areas ranged from 1.08% to 3.31% and the tightest of these markets is that of the North East Builders & Remodelers Association of Massachusetts, which boasted a rate of 1.08%.