It’s Official: 2010 is Second-lowest Year on Record for Homebuilding in California
SACRAMENTO, CA – January 24, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — California homebuilders put up the second-lowest number of homes for a single year in 2010, posting a modest improvement over the record-low that was set in 2009, the California Building Industry Association announced today.
CBIA said just 44,601 permits were issued statewide last year for new homes, apartments, condominiums and townhomes, up 23 percent from 2009, but down 31 percent from 2008, which had held the distinction of the second-lowest total on record with 64,962 permits issued. Records began being kept in 1954 with the lowest yearly total set in 2009 with 36,421 permits issued.
“While we had hoped for a more robust recovery in 2010, it’s good to see the increase in the number of permits issued, albeit a very modest increase,” said Mike Winn, CBIA’s President and CEO. “The homebuilding industry has experienced three straight years of record-low production and we hope lawmakers take these numbers into consideration when acting on any legislation that might harm our industry’s fragile recovery.”
According to statistics compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB), homebuilders pulled permits for 25,080 single-family homes in 2010, down 2 percent from 2009, while multifamily permits totaled 19,521, up 78 percent from the previous year.
For the month of December, permits totaled 6,487, up 80 percent when compared to December 2009, and up 100 percent from the previous month. Single-family permits totaled 3,108, up 15 percent from December 2009 and up 127 percent from November, while multifamily permits totaled 3,379, up 278 percent from December 2009 and up 80 percent from the previous month.
Ben Bartolotto, Research Director for CIRB, noted that any enthusiasm for the increases seen in December should be tempered with the fact that December numbers are often inflated because of a rush to pull permits before certain regulations and fees get increased in January.
Winn said that in this case, builders probably pulled permits in anticipation of the state’s new requirement mandating fire sprinklers in all new homes, which would add anywhere from $3,000-$8,000 to the cost of constructing a new home.
Bartolotto noted that CIRB is now projecting 62,000 total permits will be pulled in 2011, a slight increase from 2010, but still down from 2008.
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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.
Media Contact:
Michael Castillo
Communications Manager
(916) 443-7933 ext. 346
mcastillo (at) cbia (dot) org
