APARTMENT BOOM BUOYS MARKET WHILE SINGLE-FAMILY CONSTRUCTION STALLS, MULTIFAMILY UNITS UP 64%.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer A 64 percent annual surge in condominium condominium In modern property law, individual ownership of one dwelling unit within a multidwelling building. Unit owners have undivided ownership interest in the land and those portions of the building shared in common. and apartment construction, most of it in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , helped drive a rebound rebound (rē´bownd), n/v 1. a recovery from illness. n 2. an outbreak of fresh reflex activity after withdrawal of a stimulus rebound adjective in residential construction across the state in February, a trade group said Monday. The spike also helped the entire residential construction sector grow from year-ago levels, said the California Building Industry Association. This could be the foundation for another solid year for home and apartment building, said Alan Nevin, the Sacramento-based association's chief economist The Chief Economist is a single position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of responsibility encompassing the . "I keep talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to builders and they tell me things are decent out there," he said. Last month, housing starts measured by building permits issued totaled 15,571 in February, up almost 8 percent from February 2005. Single-family starts totaled 8,978, down almost 14 percent from February 2005 but down just 1.4 percent from January 2006. Multifamily production, which includes condominiums and apartments, totaled 6,593 units, more than double the production levels in January. "I just think it's spring. Basically, there are people who have property and want to start (work) knowing they have a full year of good weather," Nevin said of the surge in apartment and condo construction. Nevin said that permit totals for January and February are down just 1.4 percent from the like period in 2005. "The key difference is that the number of multifamily units permitted is well ahead of last year, while single-family starts are down," he said. Most of the multifamily gain is in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. area and is a result of numerous new rental and condominium projects in downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or . Builders pulled permits for 2,390 condos and apartments in the county last month, up from 818 in the year ago period and 791 in January 2006. So far this year multifamily starts in the county total 3,181 units, up almost 66 percent from the first two months of 2005 and nearly one-third of all the multifamily construction statewide, the association said. Nevin believes that the dip in single-family housing results from builders continuing to clear out their standing inventory. He expects that construction will pick up in the second quarter of the year. For the rest of this year he predicts that activity will fall slightly from last year's strong level, with builders pulling permits for between 185,000 to 205,000 homes, apartment units and condos. Layne Marceau, 2006 CBIA CBIA California Building Industry Association CBIA Connecticut Business & Industry Association CBIA Coastal Barrier Improvement Act of 1990 CBIA California Background Investigators Association CBIA Crisis Briefing & Information Area Chairman and a Bay Area homebuilder, said in a statement that lower production levels this year will make it harder to get ahead of still-strong housing demand, generated in large part by the fact that the state's population is growing by nearly 600,000 people a year. Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said that a continued strong home building sector will be a boon Boon A general term that refers to a benefit or improvement for investors. This can include such things as increased dividends, a stock market rally and stock buybacks. Notes: for the region's economy. "It looks good but a lot of people think as the market moves into the year things will slow down," Kyser said. But some of those jobs will simply shift to office and industrial projects because those markets have low vacancy rates and there is strong demand for product, Kyser said. greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3743 |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion