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O.C. homebuilding up 14.5% vs. year ago

October 27th, 2009, 3:31 pm · 21 Comments · posted by Jeff Collins

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Click to enlarge

Homebuilding appears to be on the rise in Orange County and much of Southern California.

Orange County governments issued 126 permits for new single-family residences (SFR) in September, up 63.6% from August and 14.5% from September of last year, the Construction Industry Research Board reports. Permits also increased last month in the Inland Empire and San Diego County as well, according to CIRB figures released by the California Building Industry Association.

This data comes on the heels of a report last week that new-home sales contracts are rising locally and throughout the region.

While September figures were up, permits are down for the year as a whole. Twenty-nine of the 30 metro areas reported by the state BIA had declines in permits for new houses during the first nine months of the year.

Here are research board findings for Orange County and the region:

The chart, at right, shows California homebuilding for 2009’s first 9 months sliced by region, ranked by year-over-year change …

In Orange County:

Metro 9 mos. ‘09 % Chg.
Vallejo-Fairfield 361 +44.4%
Bakersfield 1,368 -2.8%
Oakland-Fremont 1,260 -10.3%
OC 955 -10.6%
Stockton 558 -12.7%
Santa Barbara 129 -15.1%
Yuba City 123 -17.4%
Fresno 1,536 -23.9%
Inland Empire 3,520 -27.5%
Visalia-Porterville 749 -31.4%
Hanford-Corcoran 129 -31.7%
San Diego 1,323 -33.9%
Sonoma County 295 -33.9%
San Luis Obispo 228 -35.6%
Ventura County 189 -35.9%
Chico 242 -40.4%
El Centro 122 -41.3%
Sacramento 1,798 -42.4%
Non-Metro Area 699 -44.1%
Redding 146 -45.1%
L.A. County 1,596 -45.5%
San Francisco 224 -45.6%
Santa Cruz 78 -51.6%
Napa 86 -51.7%
Modesto 191 -53.0%
San Jose 467 -56.0%
Salinas 74 -64.4%
Merced 67 -67.2%
Madera 49 -73.2%
State Totals 18,562 -32.1%
  • For the year as a whole, O.C. building permits are down 10.6% from 2008, the worst year on record. Builders got permits for 955 houses this year so far, compared to 1,068 in the first nine months of 2008.
  • While single-family permits fell in 29 of the 30 metro-areas reported by the Building Industry Association, Orange County had the third-smallest percentage drop. Statewide, permits for new houses dropped 32.1%.
  • Developers took out permits for just 17 multi-family units last month, which was up by two from August, but 90.2% below the year-ago level.
  • Developers got 143 permits for Single-family and multi-family units combined. That’s up 55.4% from August, but half the number issued in September 2008.

Inland Empire:

  • Building permits increased both from August and from September 2008.
  • Developers received 586 permits in September, up 13.1% from August and 18.1% from a year ago.

San Diego County:

  • Permits also increased both in monthly and annual terms.
  • Developers received 403 permits, four times the August level and up 36.6% from September 2008.

Los Angeles County:

  • Permits fell, both from August and from September 2008 levels.
  • Developers received 326 permits, down 37.8% from the month before and down 66% from the year before.

Statewide, permits issued in September dipped both from August and from year-ago levels, which the state BIA blamed on the ending of home-buyer tax credits.

The research board revised its forecast for all 2009 to 37,700 new units, “which would be by far the lowest total on record,” the state BIA said.

New home trends:

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 21 Comments

  • shockg says:
    October 27, 2009 at 3 pm

    When it rains it pours.

    • BOGEY says:
      October 27, 2009 at 4 pm

      Hey NAR monkey, did you even read the report? What a tool, Lol

      Orange County:

      •For the year as a whole, O.C. building permits are down 10.6% from 2008, the worst year on record. Builders got permits for 955 houses this year so far, compared to 1,068 in the first nine months of 2008

    • SC2 says:
      October 27, 2009 at 4 pm

      Read first, comment second. Simple rule to avoid embarrassment.

      • pdu says:
        October 27, 2009 at 4 pm

        See’s what she wants to see and disregards the rest.
        Simple approach taken by simple people.

  • OC House says:
    October 27, 2009 at 4 pm

    Yeah!!! Some lights at the end of the tunnel.
    We’ll just have to proceed with caution; might be a train coming.

  • shockg says:
    October 27, 2009 at 4 pm

    Homebuilding appears to be on the rise in Orange County and much of Southern California.

    Orange County governments issued 126 permits for new single-family residences (SFR) in September, up 63.6% from August and 14.5% from September of last year

    • SC2 says:
      October 27, 2009 at 4 pm

      So when homebuilding is on the decline, you say that is good, but when homebuilding is up, you say that is good. Sounds like a realtor who says it is always a good time to buy…

    • South County says:
      October 27, 2009 at 6 pm

      Who are you? I have worked in the construction business for many years in Orange County. My industry is hopeless at this time, residential, commercial and public works are off 70% from 4 years ago. Please come to our next BIA meeting in Irvine next month and you can tell us how great things are. They built more homes in Orange County in 1946 than this year with a population of under 100,000. And no we are not out of land, there are over 20,000 lots approved for development in OC at this time.

  • shockg says:
    October 27, 2009 at 4 pm

    Homebuilding decline is good as the market is heading down. Now that things are turning around and we have an inventory shortage, building is good.

    • BOGEY says:
      October 27, 2009 at 5 pm

      Inventory shortage??? WTF are you talking about?

      Plenty of homes for sale in OC.. in fact, there are over 7800 listings

      Anaheim: 1056
      Irvine: 938
      Newport Beach: 700
      Costa Mesa: 317
      Laguna Beach: 433
      Huntington Beach: 760
      San Clemente: 580
      Mission Viejo: 524
      Coto: 274
      Santa Ana: 1194

      • shockg says:
        October 27, 2009 at 5 pm

        hmmm, only 7,800 homes for sales in a county with over 3 million people. What happened to the 25,000 inventory levels that so many here predicted??

        • Mulliganville says:
          October 28, 2009 at 9 am

          crickets…typical.

        • SC2 says:
          October 28, 2009 at 9 am

          And yet the median slipped despite a rate decline. Hmm, wonder why mortgage apps are down the past few weeks as the tax credit might go away…

    • OC House says:
      October 28, 2009 at 11 am

      I guess increase number of new homebuilding permits does not translate into new home sales after all.
      _____________________________________________________________
      SURPRISE DROP IN NEW HOME SALES
      Sales of newly constructed homes fell 3.6% in September, after five months of gains, according to a government report.
      By Ben Rooney, CNNMoney.com staff reporter
      Last Updated: October 28, 2009: 1:00 PM ET

      NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Sales of newly built homes fell unexpectedly in September after rising for five straight months, according to government figures released Wednesday.
      The Commerce Department said new home sales fell 3.6% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 402,000 last month, from a downwardly revised rate of 417,000 in August. It was the first time new home sales declined since March.
      …..
      _______________________________________________________________

  • shockg says:
    October 27, 2009 at 4 pm

    Looks like this has turned into an angr renters blog. I guess they need somewhere to vent their frustration.

    • SC2 says:
      October 27, 2009 at 5 pm

      Not at all - people are just amused by your inconstent statements and attempts to spin things to support your agenda.

    • SC2 says:
      October 27, 2009 at 5 pm

      And someone who is not underwater would not be so bitter as to criticize people by being smarter and not buying at the peak like you did. Glug glug glug…. shockg choking on water.

    • Tom M says:
      October 27, 2009 at 6 pm

      Hey shocko,

      You want to know how good it is? Check this out, the Mortgage Bankers Assoc in DC has to sell their building: http://www.cnbc.com/id/33497254

  • olsrfbum says:
    October 28, 2009 at 7 am

    It is? Better take a look at this mornings news.