HOME-BUILDING MOMENTUM UP AFTER BIT OF LULL PERMITS DROP FROM YEAR AGO.Byline: GREGORY J. WILCOX Staff Writer Home-building activity gained some momentum in May after a tepid tep·id adj. 1. Moderately warm; lukewarm. 2. Lacking in emotional warmth or enthusiasm; halfhearted: "the tepid conservatism of the fifties" Irving Howe. start this year and now it appears 2006 could be the fourth-strongest in 17 years, an industry tracker said Friday. During May, builders received permits for 11,576 single-family homes statewide, up 2.6 percent from the previous month but down 22 percent from a year ago, said the 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). Building Industry Association. So far this year, 52,780 housing permits have been issued by local government agencies across California, down 18.9 percent from a year ago. ``I wouldn't call it a strong year,'' said Alan Nevin, the 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 . Since reaching a low of 9,172 permits in January, single-family permits have increased each month, the association said. 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, builders pulled 4,795 permits this year, down an annual 3 percent. But multifamily permit activity -- condominiums and apartments -- increased an annual 31.6 percent, to 6,478 units. ``L.A. is doing very well in multifamily. It's the strongest in California,'' Nevin said. He attributes that to a surge of building in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , Pasadena and 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 . ``The market is really hungry for condominiums,'' he said. He also notes that downtown is finally coming into its own as an urban residential market. Statewide, multifamily housing starts totaled 3,687 units in May, up 7.4 percent from the previous month and an annual 6.4 percent. Like the resale resale n. selling again, particularly at retail. In many states a "resale license" or "resale number" is required so that the state can monitor the collection of sales tax on retail sales. RESALE. market, the new home market is normalizing. Nevin believes that overall housing starts in California this year will total between 170,000 and 180,000, down 15 percent to 20 percent from 2005 but well above production levels throughout the 1990s. Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said that activity locally could cool toward the end of this year. ``I think a lot of people were expecting home building to sort of be in step with the resale housing market. But there is a lot of stuff in the pipeline,'' he said. greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3743 |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion