Census Release Dates for Apartment Investors: When New Housing Numbers Come Out
Apartment investors often quote national housing figures without checking when they were published. A vacancy rate from a quarter ago can look like today's market. The Census Bureau publishes two releases that matter most for apartment investors, each on its own schedule. This post says what each release measures, the most recent dates we confirmed, and how to check a figure before it goes into a deal or an investor update.
We confirmed the dates below from the Census Bureau's own pages as of October 25, 2026. Census schedules can change, so check the release calendar before you rely on a date.
The two releases
| Release | What it measures | Latest we confirmed | Next we confirmed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Vacancies and Homeownership (HVS) | Rental vacancy, homeowner vacancy and the homeownership rate, by region | Second quarter 2026, published July 28, 2026 | Not confirmed in our search |
| New Residential Construction (NRC) | Housing starts, permits and completions, shown by building size (for example, buildings with five or more units) | September 2026, released Tuesday, October 20, 2026 | November 18, 2026 |
The HVS page at census.gov lists the quarterly releases, and the NRC page lists the monthly ones. Both link to a PDF with the full tables.
What each one is good for
Rental vacancy (HVS). Vacancy is the share of rental units that are empty and available. It is the most common vacancy figure in market reports, but it is a national or regional average. A property in one submarket can run far above or below it. Use it for context, then pull the local figure from the market data your deal relies on. Our post on apartment market research free data sources lists where to look.
Starts and permits (NRC). Starts count new housing units that begin construction. Permits are the local approvals that come before starts. For a sponsor, a slowdown in permits for buildings with five or more units can mean less new supply in a few years, which matters for rent growth at an exit. It is a signal, not a forecast.
How to check a figure before you use it
- Find the release date and the month or quarter. Write them down next to the number.
- Check the revision. Census revises some figures in later releases. Use the latest one, and say which release it came from.
- Read the definition. The HVS definitions PDF on census.gov explains what counts as vacant or as a rental unit. Two numbers that look alike can measure different things.
- Match the geography. A national figure does not describe your city. A regional figure does not describe your submarket.
- Name the source in the deck or update. An investor who sees "vacancy is 7 percent" with no source has no way to check it.
Our post on economic vs physical occupancy explains a different measure that often gets mixed up with vacancy in a deal's projections.
Where the figures end up in a deal
Market figures feed the rent and vacancy assumptions in a deal's projections, and those assumptions drive the returns investors see. A figure from an old release, or from the wrong region, can make a projection look safer than it is. Read our guide to syndication financial projections for how assumptions flow into the numbers an investor reads.
Sources
- Census Bureau: Housing Vacancies and Homeownership (HVS), current release
- Census Bureau: HVS definitions and explanations (PDF)
- Census Bureau: HVS historical tables
- Census Bureau: New Residential Construction, current release (September 2026)
- Census Bureau: New Residential Construction, September 2026 (PDF)
This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice, and it is not a market forecast. DoorRaise does not provide market projections for any deal. Check each release on census.gov, because figures are revised and schedules change.