Housing vacancy rates nationwide have fallen. These areas saw the biggest decreases.

Out of about 140.5 million housing units across the United States, about 9.7% are vacant — down from the 11.4% seen in 2010, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That is still higher than the overall vacancy rate was in 2000, when it was about 9%, according to the data. The states with the largest drops in vacancy rates were Nevada, which fell from a 14.3% vacancy rate to 8.1%, along with Arizona, which fell from 16.3% to 12.2% and Florida, which fell from 17.5% to 13.5%. To be…Original Article