Here's how many homes are sitting vacant across the US -- and where

There are millions of homes that are sitting vacant in the United States, according to a new LendingTree study.

The abundance of vacant homes is either a sign of oversupply or just declining demand. This could potentially lead to lower property values and slower economic growth, LendingTree suggested.

While that could mean bad news for some homeowners, declining demand could drive prices down and lead to more affordability for renters. This could then create a clearer path to homeownership. 

Here’s a look at the states with the most and least vacant homes. 

States with the most vacant homes

Dig deeper:

The state with the lowest vacancies was Washington at 7.42%, followed by Oregon and Connecticut.

Maine topped LendingTree’s ranking with 157,467 vacant homes, while Washington had 242,109 vacant homes.

"This is largely due to disparities in the states’ total housing inventory. Those with the lowest vacancy rates have far larger housing inventories than those with the highest vacancy rates. In Maine (again, the state with the highest vacancy rate), there are only 746,552 total housing units, while in Washington (with the lowest vacancy rate), there are 3,262,667 — more than four times as many," LendingTree said. 

Vacancies decrease (slightly)

The number of vacant homes in the U.S. dipped slightly between 2022 and 2023, according to LendingTree’s data. 

By the numbers:

• Vacancy rate 2022: 10.79%
• Vacancy rate 2023: 10.43%
• Overall number of vacant homes in the U.S.: 14.9 million

The decrease was likely due to interest rates, according to LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst, Matt Schulz.

What they're saying:

"During 2022 and 2023, the Fed was extremely busy raising rates in an attempt to combat inflation," Schulz said. "Mortgage rates rose sharply during that time, and those increases meant people were much more likely to stay put in their current home than to shop around for somewhere else to live."