Anecdotally, it may seem as though you can’t find a house to buy in California, but according to LendingTree, there are plenty of “empty” properties sitting in the Golden State at the moment.
According to it’s new report, LendingTree found that California has the second-highest number of vacant homes—1.2 million houses. In all, LendingTree estimates there at 16 million vacant homes across the U.S.
What constitutes a vacant home? Homes currently on the market, empty houses, vacation homes with regular residents or even inhabitable homes. But vacant doesn’t mean low vacancy.
LendingTree points out that even with more than 1 million vacant homes, California has one of the lowest vacancy rates in the country. Given that demand remains very strong and the homes that are on the market move quickly, California’s vacancy rate stands at 8.7 percent, or no. 5 in the country. California follow Oregon, Washington, Connecticut and New Jersey.
In contract, Vermont, Maine, Alaska, West Virginia and Alabama have the highest vacancy rates in the country.
Florida is the only other state that has more empty homes than California, with 1.7 million vacant properties.