18 million

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Submitted by gdcox on July 28, 2008 - 2:03am

``I think we are not at the bottom yet,'' National Australia Bank CEO John Stewart said yesterday on the Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s Inside Business program. ``Things are going to get worse. There are more than 18 million vacant properties for sale in the U.S. just now. That's more than the whole housing stock of Australia.''

Can any of you stats experts shed light on this number? Does it match up to the standard inventory numbers or does the very open CEO of NAB have a number here that possibly contains REO not on the market. (Stupid comparison he makes of course).

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18 million number includes
Submitted by esmith on July 28, 2008 - 2:19am.

18 million number includes all second homes and vacation homes in the U.S. It's above average (it's been in 14-15m range during the boom) but it's not going to zero.

esmith wrote:18 million
Submitted by cooprider on July 28, 2008 - 2:09pm.

esmith wrote:
18 million number includes all second homes and vacation homes in the U.S. It's above average (it's been in 14-15m range during the boom) but it's not going to zero.

15 million? I'm just speculating, but the majority of that number must be new or foreclosed homes, i.e. not vacation homes.

Sure they account for some of that #, but 10% of that, say 1.5 Million vacation homes would be one for every 200 people in the country (including children). Apartment complexes with 200+ units are common and my guess is if you're living in an apt, you probably don't have a vacation home.
I'd be surprised if even 5% of that number is vacation homes.

18 million homes is enough to
Submitted by jficquette on July 28, 2008 - 7:41pm.

18 million homes is enough to house 50-80 million people depending on how many you cram into each.

That's enough for 20-25% of the entire country.

That's crazy.

John