California Housing Production Continues Decline in February, CBIA Announces
SACRAMENTO, CA – March 22, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — Housing production in California continued to decline in February as builders pulled fewer permits for new homes when compared to January and when compared to February of 2010, the California Building Industry Association announced today.
According to statistics compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB), permits were pulled for 2,088 total housing units in February, down 41 percent from the same month a year ago and down 26 percent from January. Permits for single-family homes totaled 1,204, down 34 percent from February 2010 and down 26 percent from the previous month, while multifamily permits totaled 884, down 48 percent from a year ago and down 24 percent from January.
For the first two months of the year, permits were pulled for 4,894 total units, down 26 percent when compared to the first two months of 2010 when 6,587 permits were issued. Permits for single-family homes were down 25 percent while permits for multifamily units were down 27 percent.
Mike Winn, CBIA’s President and CEO, noted that in addition to a slow economic recovery, a major factor in the decline could still be attributed to the rush to pull permits in December before new code changes requiring fire sprinklers in all new homes became effective in January.
“Continued weakness in the job market and strict lending standards continue to weigh on the home buying market, which in turn is having a negative impact on homebuilding,” said Winn. “We still believe that the surge in permits pulled in December could have very well taken away from future demand for building permits that would have been issued in January and February. We hope to see modest increases in the next few months as the economy continues to recover, although at a very modest pace.”
Winn noted that CIRB is now projecting 60,000 total permits will be pulled in 2011, up from 2010’s total of 44,955 permits, but still down from 2008’s total of 64,962.
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The California Building Industry Association is a statewide trade association representing thousands of homebuilders, remodelers, subcontractors, architects, engineers, designers, and other industry professionals. More information is available on the Association’s Web site, www.cbia.org.
The Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB) is a nonprofit research center established in 1974 to provide statistical information on the California building and construction industry. More information is available on the CIRB Web site, www.cirbdata.com.
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