One in 10 homes in St. Joseph County counted as unoccupied by 2010 census

During the past decade, builders added more than 7,800 homes to St. Joseph County, according to data released this week from the U.S. Census Bureau.

But in that same time period, the county grew by only 1,472 people.

The result, according to the 2010 census data, is that now slightly more than 10 percent of the county's "housing units" -- a term that means both houses and apartments -- were listed as vacant last year, a number that has likely changed little in the stagnant home market.