National vacancy rates in the first quarter 2000 were 7.9 percent in rental
housing and 1.6 percent in homeowner housing, the Department of Commerce's Census
Bureau announced today.  The Census Bureau said that while the homeowner vacancy
rate was lower than its corresponding rate in the first quarter of 1999, the
rental vacancy rate did not change significantly.  Neither rate was significantly
different from its corresponding rate last quarter.

     For rental housing, the vacancy rates were highest outside Metropolitan
Areas (MAs), 9.1 percent and lowest in the suburbs, 7.1 percent.  The rental
vacancy rates in all areas were not significantly different from their
respective first quarter 1999 rates.

     The homeowner vacancy rate in the suburbs, 1.3 percent, was lower than
the respective rate for the first quarter of 1999, while rates in the central
cities and outside MAs did not change significantly.

     Among regions, the rental vacancy rate was highest in the South at 10.2
percent.  The rate in the Northeast, 5.6 percent, decreased from that reported
in the first quarter of 1999.  The rates in other regions did not change
significantly from their respective rates last year.

     The homeowner vacancy rate for the South, 1.8 percent, was lower than the
corresponding rate for the first quarter of 1999.  The other regions did not
change significantly from their respective rates last year.

Table 2. Rental and Homeowner Vacancy Rates By Area:
First Quarter 2000 and 1999 (in percent)

	Rental vacancy rates				Homeowner vacancy rates
Area	First Quarter 2000	First Quarter 1999	Standard error on 2000 rate	Standard error on differ- ence	First Quarter 2000	First Quarter 1999	Standard error on 2000 rate	Standard error on differ- ence
United States........ Inside MAs......... In central cities Not in central cities (suburbs) Outside MAs...... Northeast........... Midwest............. South................. West..................	7.9 7.7 8.1 7.1 9.1   5.6   8.5   10.2   6.0	8.2 8.0 8.4 7.6 9.0 6.5 8.4 10.4 6.3	0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3	0.3   0.3 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5	1.6   1.5 2.0 1.3 1.9 1.2 1.4 1.8 1.8	1.8   1.8 2.1 1.6 2.0 1.4 1.4 2.4 1.8	0.1   0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1	0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2

     There were an estimated 119.1 million housing units in the United
States in the first quarter of 2000.  Approximately 105.3 million housing units
were occupied, 70.7 million by owners and 34.6 million by renters.  The number
of owner-occupied units was higher than one year ago, while there was no
significant change in renter-occupied units from one year ago.  Of the 13.8
million vacant housing units, 10.3 million were for year-round use.
Approximately 3.0 million of the year-round vacant units were for-rent, 1.2
million were for-sale-only, and the remaining 6.2 million were vacant for a
variety of reasons.

     During the first quarter of 2000, the homeownership rate was 67.1
percent.  The homeownership rate was higher than the rate for the first
quarter of 1999, but was not significantly different from the rate last
quarter.  

     Table 4SA shows the seasonally adjusted homeownership rates for
the United States from 1980 to the present.  (Research has shown that
seasonality for homeownership rates is present.)   The seasonally adjusted
first quarter homeownership rate, 67.1 percent, was not significantly
different from the rate for the first quarter of 1999, nor from the rate
last quarter.

     Homeownership rates in the first quarter of 2000 were highest
in the Midwest at 72.2 percent and lowest in the West at 61.3 percent.
Only the rate for the Midwest was significantly higher than the 1999 rate
for the first quarter.  None of the homeownership rates changed
significantly from the rates shown in the fourth quarter of 1999.

Table 5. Homeownership Rates for the United States and Regions:
         1996 to 2000 (in percent)

	Homeownership Rates3
Year/Quarter	United States	Northeast	Midwest	South	West
2000 First Quarter...............   1999 Fourth Quarter............... Third Quarter................   Second Quarter................   First Quarter.................   1998 Fourth Quarter.............. Third Quarter................ Second Quarter............. First Quarter..................	67.1 66.9 67.0 66.6   66.7   66.4   66.8 66.0 65.9	63.3 63.2   63.6   62.8   62.7   62.0   63.4 62.7 62.4	72.2 72.5 72.1 71.2   71.2   71.5   71.7 70.3 70.6	69.5 69.1 69.3 68.9   69.2   69.0   68.8 68.4 68.2	61.3 60.6 60.8 61.3   61.0   60.4   61.1 60.3 60.1
1997 Fourth Quarter..............   Third Quarter................ Second Quarter............. First Quarter.................. 1996 Fourth Quarter.............. Third Quarter................ Second Quarter............. First Quarter.................. 1995 Fourth Quarter.............. Third Quarter................ Second Quarter............. First Quarter..................	65.7 66.0 65.7 65.4 65.4 65.6 65.4 65.1 65.1 65.0 64.7 64.2	62.7 63.0 62.4 61.6 62.3 62.8 62.3 61.4 61.6 62.2 62.3 61.9	70.4 70.7 70.3 70.6 70.8 70.7 70.5 70.4 70.1 70.1 68.5 67.9	67.8 68.2 68.1 67.8 67.6 67.5 67.2 67.5 67.5 66.6 66.5 66.1	59.8 59.8 59.9 59.0 58.9 59.2 59.8 58.9 59.0 59.1 59.8 58.9

³Standard errors for quarterly homeownership rates by region generally are 0.5 percent.

     Homeownership rates by age of householder ranged from 40.5
percent for householders less than 35 years old to 80.8 percent for
householders 55 to 64 years old in the first quarter of 2000.  The
rate for householders less than 35 years old was higher than the
corresponding rate reported during the first quarter of 1999, while
the rates for the other age groups were not significantly different.

     The homeownership rates by race and ethnicity of householder
ranged from 45.7 percent for Hispanic householders to 73.4 percent for
White non-Hispanic householders.  Only the rate for White non-Hispanic
householders was higher than the respective rate for the first quarter
of 1999.

     The homeownership rate for households with incomes less than
the median family income in the first quarter of 2000 was 51.4 percent,
while the rate for households with incomes greater than or equal to the
median family income was 81.4 percent.  Both rates were statistically
unchanged from the corresponding first quarter 1999 rates.

     The estimates in this release are based on a sample survey and
therefore are subject to both sampling and non-sampling error.  Sampling error
is a result of not surveying the entire population.  Non-sampling error occurs
because accurate information cannot always be obtained.  The standard errors
provided in the tables are primarily measures of sampling error.

     Standard errors are used to: 1) measure the accuracy of the
survey estimates, and 2) draw inferences from the survey data.  For
example, the standard error on the estimated rental vacancy rate of
7.9 percent is 0.2 percentage points.  Consequently, the 90-percent
confidence interval as shown by these data is from 7.6 to 8.2 percent;
i.e., the interval 7.9 + (1.6 x 0.2) percentage points.  Thus, one
can say with about 90-percent confidence that the average rental vacancy
rate derived from all possible samples is included in this confidence
interval.  Statements about differences are made only when the 90-percent
confidence interval on the estimated difference does not include zero.