Last year wasn't the worst ever for home builders in California, but it was the second worst. And 2011 isn't shaping up to be too much better, the California Building Industry Association reported.
Builders in the Golden State took down just 44,601 permits statewide for new houses, apartments, condominiums and townhouses in 2010, according to the Construction Industry Research Board. That's a 23% increase from 2009, but 31% below 2008, which, until last year, was the second lowest year on record with 64,962 permits.
The worst year since records started being kept in 1954? That was 2009, when just 36,421 permits were pulled statewide.
When it comes to home building and mortgage originations, California ranks first in the U.S. with an annual market share between 15% and 20%.
While builders in the state had hoped for a more robust recovery in 2010, CBIA President Mike Winn said it was "good to see" any increase after three consecutive years of record low production.
According to the CIRB, builders pulled permits for 25,080 single-family homes in 2010, down 2% from 2009. At the same time, multi-family permits totaled 19,521, up 78% from the previous year.
In December, 6,487 permits were issued, an 80% gain compared to December 2009, and up 100% from November 2010. Single-family permits totaled 3,108, up 15% from December 2009 and up 127% from November, while multi-family permits totaled 3,379, up 278% from December 2009 and up 80% from the previous month.
Ben Bartolotto, the board's research director, said 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 new regulations and higher fees go into effect the following month.
In this case, Winn said builders probably pulled more permits than usual in anticipation of the state's new requirement mandating fire sprinklers in all new homes, which the CBIA says will add anywhere from $3,000-$8,000 to the cost of constructing a house.
The CIRB is now projecting 62,000 total permits will be pulled in 2011, a slight increase from 2010, but still down from 2008.
