The vacancy rate for the Charlottesville area are fairly consistent over the last 18 months, with a slight uptick recently.The key words are market knowledge, adaptation and patience.For Charlottesville/Albemarle – there are 1395 active properties, with 490 properties being vacant (35%)….  Almost 400 of these show as vacant, while almost 300 of these vacant homes are new construction.For the entire market area, there are about 2,000 homes on the market, 600 of which are vacant, 450 of which are new construction.What does this data mean?Combine the local vacancy rate with today’s release of updated foreclosure data showing that, in the Commonwealth of Virginia (localized data not readily available), foreclosure activity is up nearly 500% (that has to be a typo) compared to the third quarter of 2006 and you have this:Unfortunately, there is going to be some pain felt in this market, and there are going to be some great opportunities for those willing and able to treat real estate investment the way it has traditionally been regarded – as a long term investment.The market is working – without a government bailout….  There are 47 vacant, active properties in Charlottesville/Albemarle that have been on the market for at least a year – think there might be some motivation in there somewhere?The inimitable Michael Cook says:If you read me often you know this is nothing new….  You could call this the calm before the perfect storm.For some local perspective: Vacancies in October 2006Vacancies in January 2007Vacancies in April 2007For a national perspective on vacancy rates since 1965 take a look at this graph:Of course, the United States population in 1965 was about 194 million.

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