Unused Property Abounds

* The vacancy rate for hotels is 34.6%.

* 31.7% of the nation's manufacturing capacity is idle.

* In the second quarter of 2009, there was a 15.9% vacancy rate for office space. In Denver, skyscrapers are selling for substantially less than they cost to build. An office building in Southern California recently sold for 40% less than it cost to build in 2007. A San Francisco office tower recently sold for just 25% of what it would cost to build.

* In the first quarter of 2009, 10.1% of the nation's apartments were vacant.

* "The vacancy rate at neighborhood and community shopping centers [is] 9.5 percent... Vacancies at regional malls and super-regional malls ... [are] 7.9 percent[.]" About 8% of enclosed malls are dead by one common industry measure. The vacancy rate on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, a high end retail district, is 7.2%. Historical and international statistics also suggest that there is a serious oversupply of shopping mall real estate.


* The "homeowner" vacancy rate is 2.7%. There are 3.8 million existing single family residences for sale, and there are also about 3 million new single family homes (a ten month supply at current new home sales rates) on the market. There are about 93 million "houses, condos and co- ops in the U.S."