California new-home permits continue drop in October
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Permits for new homes are still on the slide, and California home builders are still calling for government help, the California Building Industry Assn. said today.
The trade group said that the state’s $10,000 new-home-buyer tax credit, which was quickly depleted earlier this year, should be extended.
“Bolstering the housing sector would only help to foster a broader economic recovery,” said the association’s chief executive, Liz Snow, in a statement, while also revealing more dreary housing numbers.
New California home permits for 2009 are on track to be by far the lowest on record, according to the nonprofit Construction Industry Research Board, which predicts permits for just 36,000 total units this year.
Meanwhile, the downward trend continued in October, with just 2,815 permits pulled. The total dipped 6% from a month before and 33% below October 2008.
The 2,017 permits for single-family homes were down 9% from September and 14% from a year earlier. Nearly 800 multifamily permits came in, up 5% from September but still off 57% from a year ago.
During the first 10 months of the year, 29,901 permits were pulled – a 46% drop from the 55,632 permits pulled in the same period in 2008. So far in 2009, single-family units have slumped 30%, while multifamily units are down 64%.
-- Tiffany Hsu
