California housing starts in April fell slightly from March but were up sharply compared to April 2003, according to a recent report from the California Building Industry Association. A total of 13,802 building permits for single-family homes were issued in April, down 4.7 percent from March but up 16.2 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Seasonally adjusted, the rate was down 6.4 percent from March but up 17.2 percent from the previous year.
Including multi-family units, primarily apartments but including some condominiums, housing starts totaled 17,505, down 10.1 percent from March but up 6.4 percent from April 2003. Seasonally adjusted, the rate was down 10.6 percent from March but up 6.7 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Multi-family construction tends to be very volatile, with wide swings from month to month.
"For the better part of two decades, new-home construction has not kept pace with population growth," said Robert Rivinius, CBIA's CEO. "So while homebuilders remain on course to beginning construction on 200,000 homes and apartments this year, even that level of construction won't be enough to meet this year's demand, let alone catch up with a housing deficit that has been estimated at between 500,000 and 1 million units statewide."
Posted by gandlwoods at June 24, 2004 07:40 AM