US rental vacancy rate rises to 7.6% in the third quarter of 2026

The US rental vacancy rate rose to 7.6% in the third quarter from 7.1% a year earlier, and reached 8.8% in principal cities, thinning rental income.

The facts

The rental vacancy rate reached 7.6% in the third quarter of 2026, up from 7.1% a year earlier and from 7.3% in the previous quarter; the Census Bureau reports both increases as statistically significant, in the release it published on 28 October 2026.
By area, the rental vacancy rate was 8.8% in principal cities, 7.8% inside metro areas, 6.5% in the suburbs and 6.4% outside metro areas.
The median asking rent on vacant rental units was 1,541 dollars, and the median asking sales price on vacant for-sale units was 353,600 dollars; the release prints no year-earlier figure for either.
The homeowner vacancy rate stood at 1.2% and the homeownership rate at 65.5%, and the Census Bureau reports neither as statistically different from a year earlier.
By age, the homeownership rate of householders aged 35 to 44 fell to 60.1% from 61.1%, and that of householders aged 65 and over rose to 79.1% from 77.9%; those are the only two age groups the release marks as statistically different.

More US rental homes are sitting empty than a year ago. Expected rental income now carries a wider gap between asking and collecting.
Glopra's data put the typical US asking rent at 1,948 dollars a month against an average home price of 369,678 dollars, and a vacancy rate of 7.6% is the share of that income stream exposed to empty months. The Census figure of 1,541 dollars is a different measure, the median asking rent on vacant units only, so the two are not in conflict.
The 8.8% vacancy rate in principal cities against 6.4% outside metro areas says the risk is concentrated in city-centre stock, which is where most cross-border buyers enter. The release cautions that metro area boundaries changed, so the area figures carry that caveat.
For someone who already lets a US property, a homeownership rate holding at 65.5% means the tenant pool is not shrinking; the pressure in this release is on supply of rentals, not on demand for them. US prices are 2.2% higher than a year ago in Glopra's data.

The vacancy rate has now risen in two consecutive readings, from 7.1% to 7.3% to 7.6%, and the Census Bureau marks the latest move as significant; the next quarterly release decides whether that is a trend or a level shift.
The fall in homeownership among householders aged 35 to 44, to 60.1%, is the one age move the release treats as real, and it is the group that normally converts from renting to buying.

Sources: US Census Bureau https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/files/qtr326/Q326press.pdf