Building on Empty, For-Sale Lots Could Shrink Housing Shortage by 6%

Seattle, WA, July 23, 2026—America’s housing affordability crisis is largely a supply problem, with the country currently being 4.7 million homes short of what is needed. If one home were built on every empty lot listed for sale, that shortage would shrink by more than 6%, new Zillow research finds.

More than 300,000 empty lots five acres or smaller were listed for sale on Zillow in June, making up 17.4% of all for-sale listings. Building just one home on each of those lots would bring the total housing deficit down to roughly 4.44 million homes, a 6.3% reduction from the latest estimate. The typical lot for sale is 0.57 acres—large enough, in many cases, to support more than one home, meaning the 6.3% figure is conservative.

“The more than 300,000 lots currently listed for sale represent the lowest-hanging fruit in addressing a housing shortage that’s two decades in the making,” said Kara Ng, senior economist at Zillow. “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.”

The five states with the most empty lots listed are Florida (42,601), Texas (40,907), California (18,508), North Carolina (14,226) and Georgia (10,334). In states such as North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska, empty lots make up more than one-third of all for-sale listings — 45.9%, 38.7% and 34.6%, respectively.

Rural markets have the highest concentration of empty lots, at 25.3% of all for-sale listings, compared to 13.6% in the suburbs and 9% in urban areas. Rural lots are also the least expensive on a per-acre basis with a median of roughly $75,000 per acre, compared to more than $181,000 per acre in suburban areas and about $500,000 per acre for urban lots.