There are an estimated 46,000 vacant homes in the Bay Area, but why?

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Is too much money harming the Bay Area? According to the latest U.S Census Bureau, there are 46,000 vacant homes in our region and some landlords want to keep them that way.

"Generated by success in large part and our inability to accommodate that success and accommodate the growth that we've had in our economy. That's the basic problem we're experiencing," said Matt Regan, Senior Vice-president of Public Policy for the Bay Area Council.

A problem that according to the Bay Area Council has several protagonists.

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"Many landlords have their units off the market currently trying to figure out what's going to happen in the rental market going forward," said Regan.

With more Tech companies approaching IPO's there's also this, "Is it also greed? Well, it's a market like any other and you will get individuals who are greedy. It's human nature, but I think we've created an imbalance in the market that encourages greed, "added Regan.

According to the U.S, Census Bureau San Francisco has the most vacant homes with 11,760, followed by Oakland with 5,898, San Jose 3,985, Berkeley 1,738 and Richmond 1,560.

Let's move over to the East Bay where there are close to 8,000 vacancies according to the census.

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Nancie Allen with the Bay East Association of Realtors says these numbers are driven by buyers having a hard time obtaining building or remodeling permits.

"What we see in our area is just because the buyers are making it their own and not moved in. We've seen them take up to a year sometimes," said Allen.

Online real estate Database Company, Zillow has data that shows a low inventory of homes for sale right now.

In the San Francisco Metro Area, there are a little over 7,000 homes on the market, San Jose in the 2,000 range. But they have a different explanation as to why this number of vacancies:

"Constructed and they are not occupied yet. So, a chunk of those will be there. We know there isn't a ton of supply that is coming in now. We also know that some homes are not ready to be sold," said Zillow's Senior Economist, Cheryl Young.