CONSTRUCTION VALUE DECLINES IN REGION.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Wilcox may refer to: Place names in the United States
See Wilcox (surname) Other
BURBANK - The dollar value of construction activity in California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). fell nearly 8 percent to $30.8 billion during the first half of this year from 2001 levels, with 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 hit by big drops in residential, industrial and office projects, an industry tracker said Thursday. ``That's a sizable siz·a·ble also size·a·ble adj. Of considerable size; fairly large. siz  a·ble·ness n. drop,'' Ben Bartolotto, director
of the Burbank-based Construction Industry Research Board, which
conducted the survey.
Especially troublesome is the the 25 percent drop in the number of permits issued for housing - both multi-family and single-family units - in Los Angeles County since the supply in this market is extremely tight. Between January and the end of July, permits were issued for 7,519 units versus 10,067 last year, said the Burbank-based Construction Industry Research Board. The number of residential permits issued fell 33.4 percent in Ventura County while increasing 15.5 percent in the Riverside/San Bernardino county area. Statewide residential construction activity was unchanged from a year ago, the board said. Meanwhile, the value of nonresidential buildings for which permits were issued statewide plunged 23.5 percent to $6.998 billion, the board said. Nearly half of that is because of a drop in new office building construction. For example, the value of new office construction in Los Angeles County plunged 78 percent to $90 million through June versus same period in 2001. Industrial construction is off 7 percent. ``There are some strange trends out there,'' Jack Kyser, 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 of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said of the report. And the housing construction slump Slump A temporary fall in performance, often describing consistently falling security prices for several weeks or months. is a big concern. ``Last year Los Angeles had a modest increase in home construction but in January it's just like somebody flipped Flipped (2002) is a young adult novel by Wendelin Van Draanen. It is a stand-alone teen romance in a he-said she-said style with the two protagonists alternately presenting their perspective on a shared set of events. a switch and we were running behind last year's levels,'' he said. |
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