average. The exception was Okaloosa County because of the air force base and 

 the increasing number of recreation-oriented units along the shoreline. 

 Rental rates in 1950-80 in Escambia County have been either at, or just below 

 the State rate. Rental rates for Santa Rosa and Bay Counties increased pro- 

 bably because of more residential development along the coast. Some of the 

 increase, of course, is due to inflation. Rental rates in Franklin, Gulf, and 

 Walton Counties have been low, but only about 6% of their housing is in rental 

 units. If OCS oil and gas related development were to occur anywhere within 

 the region it is likely the demand for rental units would far exceed the 

 immediate supply, and rental rates would soar. 



Abundance of Vacancies 



Because of insufficient data, it is difficult to properly interpret the 

 percentage of housing vacancies in Florida and to differentiate between vacant 

 seasonal and year-round units. Due to the seasonal variation in tourism, the 

 percentage of vacancies reported may vary considerably depending on the time 

 of year that the housing survey was conducted. 



Although Northwest Florida's percentage of housing units in the State has 

 slipped from 6.8% in 1950 to 5.8% in 1970, the percentage increase was greater 

 than the percentage increase in population. This may help explain why the 

 region's share of the State's vacant units increased from 4.1% in 1950 to 6.8% 

 in 1970. Although the number of vacancies in the State decreased in 1960-70, 

 vacancies in Northwest Florida continued to increase, but at a slower rate 

 (Table 9). 



The sharp rise in vacancies was apparent in almost every county in 1950- 

 60, and in all counties except Escambia and Gulf in 1960-70 (Table 9). The 

 general increase in vacancy rates may be caused by greater out-migration from 

 the more rural counties or by increased construction of vacation units. 



Table 9. The number of vacant units in the counties of Northwest Florida and 

 their percentage contribution (in parentheses) to the total in 1950, 1960, and 

 1970 (U.S. Department of Commerce 1951, 1961, 1971). 



County 



1950 



1960 



1970 



Bay 



Escambia 



Frankl in 



Gulf 



Okaloosa 



Santa Rosa 



Walton 



Northwest Florida 



2,008 (3.1) 



5,793 (5.1) 



67 



