The U.S. Census Bureau rated homeowner vacancy rates in the country's 75 biggest Metropolitan Statistical Areas.
Funerary drum roll, please: We're second worst on the list after Orlando. Ouch. Doesn't say much for Central Florida's housing market, does it?
Why are so many homes vacant? Don't believe all the Dust Bowl-Mr. Potter hype about families kicked out on the street by the oh-so-cruel market. That's only a small part of the problem.
The main issue is housing speculation - gambling if you will - that led to over-construction in 2004-2006. Now thousands of homes sit empty, searching in vain for the families that were supposed to have bought them.
Vacancy in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater nearly tripled in the two years between 2005 and 2007, rising from 1.8 percent to 5.1 percent.
I went back to 1986 to put it in perspective. Our previous high was 4.3-percent vacancy in 1991 during the last property meltdown. Through most of the 80s and 90s it hovered around 2.5 percent.
