Housing Vacancy in the City of Tucson and Pima County
The housing vacancy rate is one indicator of the health of a local housing market. According to a recent National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) study, a low vacancy rate signals a housing shortage, indicating a possible imbalance between supply and demand. On the other side of that imbalance, CityLab contends that a vacancy rate of more than 12% is high.
The map below shows the percentage of vacant housing units by Census tract in the City of Tucson and Pima County. The tracts with the lowest and highest vacancy rates are all located outside of Tucson city limits. The lowest tracts, both with a vacancy rate of less than 1% are 40.54 on East Catalina Highway and 46.28 between Orange Grove and Ina (west of La Cholla). The highest tracts are west of the city: tract 52 at Ajo with a vacancy rate of 38.5% and tract 44.04 on Kinney Road (north of Ajo Highway) with a 34.9% vacancy rate.
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How does the Tucson MSA housing vacancy rate compare to other places? The Tucson area is on par with both the Phoenix MSA and the U.S. as a whole at just over 12%, while the state of Arizona is significantly higher at a vacancy rate of 15%.
