CALIFORNIANS RANK LOW AS HOMEOWNERS.

Byline: GREGORY J. WILCOX Staff writer

Beset by high prices and and a tough regulatory climate, California continued to wallow at the bottom of the nation's homeownership ranks last year, according to a study released Wednesday.

Last year 57 percent of the state's residents owned their own home, the second-lowest total in the nation and 13.3 percentage points under the national average, said the analysis by the California Building Industry Association.

Only New York had a lower ownership rate, 54.8 percent.

Boosting the ownership rate to close to the nation's would boost property tax revenue by more than $4 billion a year, money that could help the state pay for infrastructure improvements, officials said.

Ownership rates in most of California have been flat since the beginning of the decade, said Alan Nevin, the association's chief economist.

At 47.4 percent, the Los Angeles metro area has the lowest homeownership rate in the state, down 1.5 percentage points since 1994. The highest rate, 67.2 percent, is in the Inland Empire.

California has not been on a par with the nation in regard to homeownership since the 1960s, Nevin's analysis showed.

"Homeownership rates go hand in hand with the strength and prosperity of a community," Nevin said during a conference call.

High prices are one barrier, especially for entry-level buyers.

Supply is an issue, too.

Builders would have to deliver about 240,000 housing units a year in California to meet demand but have been falling well short of that number for years, the association said.

Lately about 200,000 units a year have come on the market, about 150,000 of them single-family homes.

The 1960s was the last time builders met supply, Nevin said.

"Our state is a leader in many ways but we are failing in one big way," said Robert Rivinius, the association's president and chief executive officer.

The association said that during the 1970s, a series of state and local government regulations were adopted that erected difficult and costly barriers for builders to overcome.

The association is now pushing a series of bills that would ensure that a sufficient supply of land is zoned to meet the housing needs of communities, support long-term bond financing of infrastructure repairs and overhaul some provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act.

The CBIA study showed that in the past 10 years California's homeownership rate increased 1.6 percentage points while the nation's rose 5.2 percentage points.

Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said homeownership is important to the community.

Owning a home helps people bond with their community and they become concerned with such things as public services and schools.

Ownership could also translate into more money for public agencies.

"Meeting the demand for affordable housing would be very positive and it would have an economic impact, maybe different from what these people are saying, but a significant economic impact," Kyser said.

greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com

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Here are the top and bottom states for homeownership:

TOP FIVE

Alabama 78%

Michigan 77.1%

Minnesota 76.4%

Indiana 75.6 %

Ohio 73.1 %

BOTTOM FIVE

Nevada 65.7 %

Rhode Island 61.5%

Hawaii 60.6%

California 57%

New York 54.8%

Source: Census.gov/California Building Industry Association

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