The U.S. Census Bureau recently released a report entitled “Rental Housing Market Condition Measures: A Comparison of US Metropolitan Areas” which details rental data collected via the American Community Survey (ACS) between 2009 and 2011. According to the report, rental vacancy rates for the nation declined from 8.4 percent in 2009 to 7.4 percent in 2011, and overall approximately four times as many metro areas experienced declines in rental vacancy rates as those that experienced increases. What’s more, the share of U.S. households that rent rather than own increased from 34.1 percent in 2009 to 35.4 percent in 2011 and nearly a quarter of the nation’s metro areas saw a rise in renting households, while less than 3.0 percent of the nation’s metro areas saw a decline.

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