The national rental vacancy rate was 7.6% in the third quarter of 2026, the Census Bureau reported Oct. 28, up from 7.3% in the second quarter and 7.1% a year earlier. Both increases were statistically significant. It is the highest quarterly rate in the bureau's release table, which runs back to 2020, a year in which the rate ran from 5.7% to 6.6%.

Rent itself kept rising at a modest pace. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' index for rent of a primary residence rose 0.2% in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, the same monthly rate as in July, August and September, according to the consumer price index released Nov. 10.

What the vacancy rate counts

The figure comes from the Current Population Survey and Housing Vacancy Survey. It measures the share of the rental housing stock that is vacant and for rent. The Census Bureau tests each comparison at the 90% confidence level. One caution in the series: because of the lapse in federal funding in the fall of 2025, the bureau's fourth-quarter 2025 estimates use only November and December data.

The same release put the homeowner vacancy rate at 1.2%, unchanged from the second quarter and from a year earlier, and the homeownership rate at 65.5%, which was not statistically different from either 65.0% in the second quarter or 65.3% a year earlier.

What the rent index shows

The BLS rent index tracks the rent paid for a sample of occupied units over time, including tenants partway through a lease, so it is a measure of what renters pay rather than of asking rents on new listings. Measured that way, rent rose 2.8% over the 12 months to September 2026, not seasonally adjusted, down from 3.4% over the 12 months to September 2025. At its recent peak, in February 2023, the 12-month increase was 8.8%.

Through 2026 the 12-month rent increase has stayed in a narrow band, from 2.8% in January to a low of 2.6% in March and between 2.7% and 2.9% in every month since, based on the BLS published index. Before seasonal adjustment, the index rose 0.2% from September to October.

The October report could not show a 12-month change. BLS did not collect October 2025 prices during the 2025 funding lapse, so it has no year-earlier October figure to compare against, and the agency published no 12-month changes for indexes where that month is missing. Year-over-year comparisons resume with the November report.

Rent in the wider price picture

Shelter, the largest category in the consumer price index at about 35% of the basket, rose 0.3% in October, seasonally adjusted, and BLS said it accounted for more than 30% of the month's overall increase. Rent of a primary residence carries a weight of about 7.7% of the index. Owners' equivalent rent, the BLS estimate of what homeowners would pay to rent their own homes and the largest single piece of shelter at about 25.9%, rose 0.3%. The all-items index rose 0.4% for the month.

Over the 12 months to September 2026, the all-items index rose 3.7%, not seasonally adjusted, faster than the 2.8% rise in rent over the same period.

What the data does not settle

A national vacancy rate does not describe any single market. Vacancy can rise in metros with heavy new apartment construction while staying tight elsewhere, and the national release does not break the figure out by metro. The Census Bureau posts detailed tables with each quarterly release on its Housing Vacancy Survey pages, and the BLS publishes separate rent indexes for census regions and for a set of large metro areas.

Next releases

BLS has scheduled the November consumer price index for Thursday, Dec. 10, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. The Census Bureau's fourth-quarter vacancy and homeownership figures follow in early 2027, on the date posted on the bureau's release schedule.

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