A new data report by Zillow (NASDAQ: Z, ZG) found more than 300,000 empty lots measuring 5 acres or smaller were listed for sale on its platform in June, which accounted for 17.4% of all listings. The Seattle-based brokerage added that if one home was built on each of those lots, it would bring the total housing deficit down to roughly 4.44 million homes, reducing the nation’s housing deficit by 6.3%.
Zillow noted the typical lot for sale on its platform is 0.57 acres, which is large enough to support more than one home. The five states with the highest number of empty lots listed for sale are Florida (42,601), Texas (40,907), California (18,508), North Carolina (14,226) and Georgia (10,334).
Zillow added that the empty lots listed for sale in North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska accounted for more than one-third of all for-sale listings — 45.9%, 38.7% and 34.6%, respectively.
The majority of the empty lots are based in rural markets – 25.3% of all for-sale listings, compared to 13.6% in the suburbs and 9% in urban areas. Rural lots are also the least expensive on a per-acre basis with a median of roughly $75,000 per acre, compared to more than $181,000 per acre in suburban areas and about $500,000 per acre for urban lots.
“The more than 300,000 lots currently listed for sale represent the lowest-hanging fruit in addressing a housing shortage that’s two decades in the making,” said Kara Ng, senior economist at Zillow. “The challenge is making it feasible to build. Loosening zoning rules, streamlining permitting and expanding access to financing would reduce the cost and uncertainty that hold construction back, turning available lots into much-needed homes. The ROAD to Housing Act is an encouraging sign that policymakers understand what it will take to close the gap, but some of this reform will need to happen at the state and local levels.”
0 Comments