California Housing Starts Dip in April, CBIA Announces
SACRAMENTO, CA – May 24, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — After three straight months of gains, total housing starts in California dipped slightly in April, but year-to-date totals were still above 2009, the California Building Industry Association announced today.
“We hope this is a blip in what was otherwise an encouraging start to the year,” said Liz Snow, CBIA’s President and CEO. “Total housing starts for the year are still up from last year, so we’re still optimistic that the industry will experience a modest recovery in 2010.”
According to statistics compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB), permits were pulled for 3,314 total housing units in April, down 6 percent from the same month a year ago and down 9 percent from March. Permits for single-family homes totaled 2,252, down 6 percent from April 2009 and down 5 percent from the previous month, while multifamily permits totaled 1,062, down 7 percent from a year ago and down 16 percent from March.
For the first four months of the year, permits were pulled for 13,530 units, up 17 percent when compared to the first four months of 2009 when 11,551 permits were issued. Single-family permits were up 22 percent while multifamily permits rose 10 percent.
Snow was still encouraged by the state tax credit for homebuyers that went into effect in the beginning of May, which she said should result in some higher construction numbers in the coming months.
“This tax credit will help clear out both new and existing inventory, and we’ve already seen some home sales reports citing a lack of new homes on the market, so we expect to see some better numbers as homebuilders ramp up production to meet that demand,” said Snow.
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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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Media Contact:
Michael Castillo
Communications Manager
(916) 443-7933 ext. 346
mcastillo (at) cbia (dot) org
