After several months of declines, the state experienced bit of an uptick in residential building permits in August. 9,350 permits were issued statewide, up 8 percent from July and 6 percent from August 2018. Despite this modest uptick in August, permitting is still down overall in 2019. In total, 70,600 permits have been issued in the first eight months of 2019, down 15 percent from 2018.
Multifamily housing units (33,400) have made up about half of the permits issued in 2019. Multifamily permits accounted for nearly all of the uptick in August, increasing by 18 percent from the prior month and 24 percent from one year ago. Overall, multifamily permitting remains down 20 percent through the first eight months of 2019 as compared to 2018.
Single family housing permits (37,100) have made up the other half of permits issued in 2019. Single family permits declined slightly in August relative to a year ago. Through the first eight months of 2019, single family permits are down 10 percent compared to 2018.
Multifamily permit numbers in August were bolstered by an uncharacteristically large number of permits issued in Butte County, almost all attributable to new construction in Chico.
Data source: CIRB (Construction Industry Research Board), a service provided by the California Homebuilding Foundation http://www.mychf.org/cirb.html.