Census: Decade Later, More East Bay Dwellings Unoccupied

The number of homes that are unoccupied has doubled in the East Bay during the past decade.

The census figures don’t reveal what percentage of the vacancies are single-family homes, apartments, condominiums or mobile homes.

Hing Wong, a senior regional planner with the Association of Bay Area Governments, said the real estate market collapse the past three years and the
increase in foreclosures has played a major role.

He added banks holding onto foreclosed homes also is a factor because those houses don’t have anybody living in them.

Wong also noted 2000 was near the peak of the dot-com boom when the Bay Area
housing market was riding high.

Census figures show the vacancy rate rose sharply in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties between 2000 and 2010.

In 2000, San Ramon had 17,552 housing units – 16,944 of them were occupied, and 608 of them (3.5 percent) were not. In 2010, the city had 26,222 homes – 938 of them (4 percent) were empty.

The number of unoccupied homes more than doubled in the cities of Benicia, Castro Valley, Concord, Hercules, Lafayette, Martinez, Pinole, San Leandro, San Lorenzo and Union City.

“I’m surprised at these numbers,” said Wayne Gregori with Gregori Group Real Estate. However, he acknowledged, “There is a lot of word on the street about real estate agents getting into the short sale business.”

In Contra Costa County, the number of living units increased from 354,000 in 2000 to 400,000 in 2010. The number of unoccupied residences leaped from 10,448 to 24,899. The vacancy rate rose from about 2.5 percent to 6 percent.

Most communities in these counties experienced similar increases, no matter what their socio-economic demographics.

Albany went from 237 unoccupied living units in 2000 to 488 in 2010, despite only a small rise in the total number of living units. The vacancy rate rose from about 3 percent to more than 6 percent.

Concord went from 1,083 vacant living units to 2,847 in 2010, sending its vacancy rate from about 2.5 percent to 6 percent.

Walnut Creek rose from 1,124 unoccupied living units to 2,238 units in 2010, increasing its vacancy rate from about 3.5 percent to 7 percent.

Even the high-income enclave of Diablo went from 6 unoccupied dwellings in 2000 to 27 in 2010. Its vacancy went from less than 2 percent to 6 percent.

In Alameda County, the number of living units went from slightly more than 540,000 in 2000 to 582,000 in 2010. However, the number of unoccupied residences jumped from 16,817 to 37,411. The vacancy rate climbed from about 3 percent to 6 percent.

San Ramon Patch Editor Jennifer Wadsworth contributed to this report.