More homes sit empty in Florida than anywhere else in the nation

As working-class people struggled to find affordable homes and apartments to rent or buy, Florida had nearly 1.7 million residences sitting empty in 2020 — more than any other state, according to a recent analysis.

That was roughly 1 in 10 of all the vacant homes across the nation, LendingTree found.

“High vacancy rates and high home prices can suggest that an area has unique characteristics, such as being a vacation hot spot or targeted by investors,” according to LendingTree’s analysis, providing a description that certainly fits the Sunshine State.

In some cases, vacancies are simply due to homes being abandoned and/or too dilapidated for human occupancy.

However, other reasons include a residence being on the market, or being an uninhabited vacation home.

Vacancy rates are often correlated with low housing costs — but not always, according to LendingTree’s analysis.

The online loan marketplace looked at U.S. Census Bureau 2020 American Community Survey data.

Florida is the third most-populous state behind California and Texas, yet still came out on top in terms of sheer number of vacant housing units.

In fact, with a vacancy rate of 17.1%, Florida far outpaced California’s rate of 8.7% in 2020. The Golden State had 1.2 million vacant housing units that year.

When looking at percentages, Vermont, Maine and Alaska had the highest housing vacancy rates. Oregon, Washington and Connecticut had the lowest.