How to Compute Vacancy Rates

[Christian Malesic]

What is the general concensus? Is there an official formula (if so - state source)

I look at each apartment (or individually rented unit) and determine how many days of the year were paid (meaning, I do not care if it was 'occupied', as long as it was paid). Since we are talking vacancy here, I actually subtract that number from 365 to get unpaid vacancy days per unit per year.

This can then be expressed as a a percentage: # of vacancy days / 365 (decimal) X 100 (to get %).

This is the vacancy rate per unit. I then average with all of my units for the company vacancy percentage rate.

Does anyone weigh as per rental dollars? Does anyone take entire holdings of vacancy days, instead of averaging? (difference between the two formulas should be minimal, but I have not tried it).