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National vacancy rates for both rental and homeowner housing inched slightly upward year-over-year in Q3, according to data released by the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau on Tuesday . The vacancy rate for rental housing in Q3 2015 was 7.3 percent, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the same quarter a year ago. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.9 percent in Q3, up 0.1 percentage points both month-over-month and year-over-year. Vacancy rates in rental housing were highest outside of Metropolitan Statistical Areas at 9.2 percent and were lower in principal cities at 7.7 percent and suburbs at 6.2 percent. The homeowner vacancy rate was also highest outside MSAs at 2.5 percent and was slightly lower inside principal cities at 1.9 percent and in the suburbs at 1.7 percent. Overall in Q3, approximately 87.1 percent of single-family housing units were occupied and 12.9 percent were vacant, according to the Census Bureau. About 55.5 percent of all single-family housing

Sustainable homeownership is the “gateway to the middle class” for many Americans and is the primary source of wealth creation for many, which is why increasing the homeownership rate is so critical to a healthy economy, according to a panel at a housing forum in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. In the “Achieving the American Dream” housing forum, hosted by  First American Financial Corporation , three members of Congress addressed the audience while a panel of experts discussed primarily how to increase the homeownership rate among Latinos and African Americans. Panelist Gary Acosta, Co-Founder and CEO, National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Agents, declared to the agreement of the panel that the gateway to the middle class in America is sustainable homeownership—and that lenders do not need to lower the bar, but instead need to open the credit window. “What that essentially means is we’re not trying to qualify people who probably shouldn’t qualify for a mortgage,” Acosta sa