California Housing Construction Crashes

There is very, very little new housing construction in most of California, where the number of housing starts is down 75% from the boom year of 2005. One result is layoffs for planners, building inspectors and plan checkers.

1 minute read

May 9, 2008, 6:00 AM PDT

By Paul Shigley


Metropolitan areas across the state need only two digits to count new housing starts. Some, such as the Marysville-Yuba City area, needed only one digit to count the number of housing starts in March.

"Back in February, CP&DR reported that the housing market appeared to be evolving, with infill and multi-family activity remaining stronger than construction of single-family housing tracts. So far this year, the numbers for multi-family housing do not support our thesis. But it is true that the downturn is most dramatic in the exurbs of the Inland Empire and the Central Valley."

Monday, May 5, 2008 in California Planning & Development Report

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