California housing production declined 45 percent in July compared with a year earlier, and posted the lowest monthly permit total since January of 2009, according to the California Building Industry Association. Statistics compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB) show that permits were pulled for 2,248 total housing units in July, down 45 percent from the same month a year ago and down 53 percent from June, representing the lowest monthly permit total since January of 2009 when 2,104 permits had been issued. Permits for single-family homes totaled 1,436, down 30 percent from June 2010 and down 39 percent from the previous month, while multifamily permits totaled 812, down 61 percent from a year ago and down 67 percent from June.
Mike Winn, CBIA’s president and CEO, noted that in addition to dismal economic conditions, CIRB attributed some of the decline to secondary effects of the costly green building code changes and fire sprinkler mandates that went into effect on Jan. 1.
“Permits that had been applied for back in December to avoid the costly new regulations had not actually been issued yet and needed to be issued by July 1,” said Winn. “This caused more permits to be issued through the end of June which could account for some of the decline in July, according to CIRB’s analysis.”
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