In yet another sign of a continuing Inland housing market slowdown, the percentage of homes sitting vacant and waiting to be sold rose to 3.9 percent in the first quarter, well above 0.8 percent a year ago, according to newly released government data.

Figures released Friday by the U.S. Commerce Department s Census Bureau showed that 65.

4 percent of Inland residents owned their own homes in the first quarter, slightly below the national rate of 68.4 percent. Inland rental vacancies, at 5.

2 percent, were about 5 percent lower than the national rate.
The numbers indicate that the Inland vacancy rate for resale homes has generally been rising over the past year, amid slowing sales and a rise in unsold new and resale properties.
The first quarter Inland figure was also more than a percentage point ahead of the national 2.

8 percent vacancy rate.
Nationally, the number of homes sitting vacant reached a record for the sixth straight quarter.
The rate of home ownership, at 68.

4 percent, was the lowest since the third quarter of 2003.
The U.S.

rate of 10.1 percent in rental vacancies was the highest in two years, according to Commerce Department data.
By region, home ownership in the first quarter was highest in the Midwest (72.

2 percent), followed by the South (70.6 percent), the Northeast (64.8 percent) and the West (63.

6 percent).
The new data follow trends outlined in other recent reports by the government, economists and housing industry experts.
Earlier this week, a report by the Multi-Regional Multiple Listing Service, which tracks resale homes, showed there are more than 34,700 Inland homes listed for sale.

That s the highest level in eight years.
The length of time those houses stay on the market has almost doubled in the past 12 months, the report showed.
It would take 13.

2 months to sell the supply of resale homes, up from 6.9 months a year ago.
Inland builders in the past year have slowed down the pace of new construction, as they attempt to sell off a rising inventory of unsold homes.

Steve Johnson, a director with Riverside real-estate consulting firm Metrostudy, says unsold inventory of newly built Inland homes went from about 1.3 months of supply, or about 2,700 properties a year ago, to 2.4 months of supply, a total of around 5,000 properties.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.