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StumblePublished Friday, March 21, 2008 | 11:13 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008 | 10:15 a.m.
The U.S. Census Bureau recently came out with its 2007 home vacancy rate data, and the Wall Street Journal has created a nifty map that makes it easy to compare Las Vegas with other parts of the country.
It's become fairly normal for Las Vegas to show up near the top of these housing economic charts, and there it is again: Las Vegas had the third highest homeowner vacancy rate in the country, at 4.9 percent. It jumped up from 2.8 percent the year before. The national homeowner vacancy rate in 2007 was 2.7 percent.
Vacancy sees no sign of going down as home sales numbers here continue to plummet and foreclosure is still on the rise. Homebuilders are waiting for home sales to start increasing again before they get into gear, said Dennis Smith of Home Builders Research. He wasn't willing to venture a prediction on when that might be.
Other census data shows that the rental vacancy rate here rose from 9.6 to 10.9 percent. The national rate is 9.8 percent. About half of the top 75 metropolitan areas have rental vacancy rates higher than Las Vegas.
It's not the cost of living, it's the standard of living that's the problem here.
Cost of living, or standard of living... it's really just semantics. The average american has been living outside their means for quite some time, and the inevitable correction for this has been overdue. Not that I'm happy about it by any means, but what's going on now is just the other side of the cycle. The problem now is so many more people are financially lazy and irresponsible, it has become common for people to just walk away from their obligations. The speculators and credit risks who should have never been allowed extended credit here will be out of the market soon, and responsible Las Vegans can begin the recovery process in a smart, structured manner. Just my $.02 worth...
people learn there lesson and they will not spend until it necessary