Housing production in California dropped in July, falling 70% from last year’s levels. California Building Industry Association (CBIA) reported that the lowest monthly permit totals were posted since January of 2009.
Compared to 901 permits for single- and multi-family housing filed last year, The Los Angeles/Ventura Chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California reported that only 275 were filed this past July.
RealEstateRama reported that according to statistics compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB), permits were pulled for 2,248 total housing units in July, down 45 percent from the same month a year ago and down 53 percent from June. This was the lowest monthly permit total since January of 2009 when 2,104 permits had been issued. Permits for single-family homes totaled 1,436, down 30 percent from June 2010 and down 39 percent from the previous month, while multifamily permits totaled 812, down 61 percent from a year ago and down 67 percent from June.
Mike Winn, CBIA’s President and CEO, said “The housing industry in California is still struggling to keep pace with 2010 which was the second-lowest year for housing production in history,” said Winn.
“Builders are still competing with a glut of foreclosed and distressed properties while buyers are sitting on the sidelines due to tight lending restrictions and the current climate of economic uncertainty. This has created the ‘perfect storm’ that continues to work against us, but the construction industry is resilient and we will navigate through this just as we’ve done in the past.”
Both groups contribute the decline to the downturn of the economy. They also contribute some of the drop to the costly fire sprinkler mandates and expensive green building requirements that went into effect as January 1st.
While July numbers were disappointing the CBIA reports that the first seven months show a 20% increase. Some of this increase is due to the proposed 300 unit Warner Park apartment complex project.
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