The Commerce Department has reported that the percentage of vacant housing units across the country dropped slightly to 2.6% in the first three months of the year from 2.7% in the last quarter of 2009. The department said the South had the highest vacancy rate at 2.8% followed by the West (2.7%) and the Midwest (2.6%). The North posted the lowest vacancy rate at 1.8%.

Despite the slight drop, vacancies remained at high levels as the housing market struggles to recover from the worst recession to hit the nation in decades. A high vacancy rate indicates that homeowners moved out of their house before it was sold.

In the rental property market, the department said that the percentage of empty units fell slightly to 10.6% in the first quarter of the year from 10.7% in the final three months last year. First quarter’s figure, however, was up from the 10.1% rate recorded in the same period in 2009.

Nicholas Tenev, a Barclays Capital analyst, said that the latest data indicate that the downward pressure on rental prices is starting to lessen. “While vacancy rates are likely to remain elevated for some time, both homeowner and rental vacancy rates seem to have peaked,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Census Bureau reported that homeownership in the country dropped to a level last recorded at the beginning of the decade. Data showed that homeownership in the U.S. in the first three months of the year fell to 67.1%, down 0.1% from the rate registered in the fourth quarter of 2009 and 0.2% lower compared to the rate recorded in the same period last year.

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