Housing permits have been declining since the summer of 2018. 9,570 permits were issued statewide in April, down 3 percent from the prior April. In total, 34,100 permits have been issued in the first four months of 2019, down 7 percent from the first four months of 2018.
Multifamily housing units (17,300) have made up about half of the permits issued in 2019. Multifamily permits in April were about level with the number of permits issued a year ago, as well as the average of the last five Aprils. Overall, multifamily permitting is down 3 percent through the first four months of 2019 as compared to 2018.
As has been true for the last six month, single family permitting showed signs slowing in April, down 6 percent from last April. Through the first four months of 2019, single family permits are down 12 percent compared to 2018.
Last month, we noted that while single family permitting has slowed statewide, a handful of counties—particularly Kern, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, and Yolo—have continue to see growth in single family building. This pattern continued in April. Notably, costs for home builders and home buyers are lower in all of these counties than the statewide average.
Data source: CIRB (Construction Industry Research Board), a service provided by the California Homebuilding Foundation http://www.mychf.org/cirb.html.