There are two major differences in trends between vacancies for rent and 

 those for sale. The trends in rental vacancies are a particularly important 

 consideration for workers who would be employed during the construction stage 

 of any potential OCS oil and gas development, whereas the number of housing 

 units for sale gives an indication of capacity to assimilate sudden growth. 



In 1950-70, vacancies for rent increased more than vacancies for sale 

 (Table 10). Rental vacancies increased from 1,814 to 5,555, and vacancies for 

 sale increased from 194 to 1,810. Escambia and Okaloosa Counties accounted 

 for more than two-thirds of the increase from 1950 to 1970. In vacancies for 

 sale, all but Walton and Escambia Counties showed sizeable gains. 



Table 10. Vacancies for rent and sale in Northwest Florida 

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



in 1950, 1960, 



PROJECTED TRENDS 



The projected number of housing units by county in Northwest Florida 

 1980-2000 were prepared in two steps. First, the 1978 base-year population 

 projections developed by the Bureau of Economic Research at the University of 

 Florida were adjusted to conform to the 1980 population census figures. For 

 example. Bay County had an estimated population of 96,225 in 1978, 124,000 in 

 1990 and 144,300 in 2000. Since the actual 1980 census figure for Bay county 

 was 97,740, the difference gave an adjusted population projection of 125,700 

 and 146,100. Secondly, in the projections it was assumed that the average 

 number of persons per housing unit would remain substantially the same as in 

 1980. For Bay County, there were 2.3 persons per housing unit. This figure 

 was then applied to the projections determined in step one; therefore, the 

 amended projection of the number of housing units for Bay County is 54,700 in 

 1990 and 63,500 in 2000 (Table 11). 



DATA GAPS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



The most glaring gap in the data on residential development was the lack 

 of detailed information on housing from the 1980 census; this information may 



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