NW Fl has more vacant housing units, than occupied ones; Census Data

[GoodWitch58]

Florida Panhandle leads the state in number of vacant housing units

And in Franklin and Walton Counties there's more empty houses than there are occupied?51% of the housing units are vacant.

Wow! this is pretty amazing.

 

[Smiling JOe]

not amazing to me. The majority of the homes in Walton Co are in South Walton and are 2nd homes, or investment homes, which would show up in the census data as "vacant."

 

[Teresa]

not amazing to me. The majority of the homes in Walton Co are in South Walton and are 2nd homes, or investment homes, which would show up in the census data as "vacant."

surely the writer would take second home ownership and/or vacation rentals into consideration, but the article sounds like its talking about vacant homes that are empty as a result of sitting on the market or going back to the bank. very confusing data.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I wondered about that too. It is interesting that it is Walton and Franklin with the highest %s; which probably have the lowest population of full time residents and a high rate of second/rental homes--but both have an awful lot of empty, unowned units too. It's confusing for sure.
If the census data show all second homes or rental units as "vacant" then, all the census data is skewed...

 

[Kurt]

Is a vacant house one where someone doesn't answer the door?

 

[Andy A]

To believe the census data isn't skewed is to never have talked to a census taker.

 

[scooterbug44]

The article is specifically talking about empty homes - I know the census counts long term renters, but not sure what qualifies a unit as "empty"?

I do know that there are many empty/abandoned/unused homes, but 51% seems high.