Dwelling Deficit

Between 2000-2010, the housing stock rose 15.8 million and the number of households rose 11.2 million. Thus, vacancies rose 4.6 million and the vacancy rate rose 2.4 percentage points. There were plenty of houses. Conversely, between 2010-2020 the number of units increased just 8.8 million, but the number of households rose 10.1 million, resulting in vacancies falling by 1.3 million and the rate falling by 1.6 percentage points, a housing shortage.