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Hundreds of thousands of empty for-sale lots could help fix America’s home shortage, Zillow says

By
FOX Local
Real Estate
Published July 21, 2026 3:02 PM MST
Published July 21, 2026 3:02 PM MST
article

FILE - A vacant lot on Brickell Bay Drive in Miami, Florida, US, on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. (Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Brief

    • Zillow estimates the U.S. is short about 4.7 million homes, but building on every listed vacant lot could reduce that shortage by more than 6%.
    • More than 300,000 vacant lots were listed for sale nationwide in June, with Florida and Texas leading the way.
    • Zillow says easing zoning rules and speeding up permitting could help turn vacant land into much-needed housing.

Zillow revealed there are hundreds of thousands of empty lots across the United States that could potentially mitigate the housing shortage by 6%.

By the numbers:

Zillow found that a housing shortage of 4.7 million homes is a major driver of America’s housing affordability crisis.

Currently, there are more than 300,000 empty lots that are less than five acres or smaller listed for sale on Zillow. This makes up 17.4% of  all for-sale listings on Zillow.

Big picture view:

Building just one home on each of these lots could alleviate the housing shortage, bringing down that 4.7 million to about 4.4 million. 

While this sounds like a solid solution to create more supply for people searching to buy a home, there are several hurdles in addition to just building more, Zillow said.

What they're saying:

"The challenge is making it feasible to build. Loosening zoning rules, streamlining permitting and expanding access to financing would reduce the cost and uncertainty that hold construction back, turning available lots into much-needed homes. The ROAD to Housing Act is an encouraging sign that policymakers understand what it will take to close the gap, but some of this reform will need to happen at the state and local levels."

Other hurdles that buyers may face if interested in these empty lots include finding the land, selecting a home type and securing financing, Zillow said. 

Top 5 states with the most empty lots for sale

  • Florida: 42,601
  • Texas: 40,907
  • California: 18,508
  • North Carolina: 14,226
  • Georgia: 10,334

In states such as North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska, empty lots make up more than a third of all for-sale listings, Zillow said. 

See the full list of U.S. states and how many empty lots each has below: 

The Source: Information for this article was taken from an emailed news release from Zillow. This story was reported from San Jose.

Real EstateU.S.News