A "Lot Less Work" at Building Permit Offices
From the Central Valley Business Times:
Compared to 2005 there was a lot less work for many building permit offices around the Central Valley this past May. Region-wide, there were 3,342 single-family building permits issued in May 2006, compared to 4,525 in May 2005, the California Building Industry Association says [pdf]...
Bakersfield’s hot housing market cooled compared to a year earlier. The number of single-family housing permits issued in May was 553, a 30.3 percent drop from May 2005. Other Central Valley metro areas, with percentage drop and number of permits issued in May 2006 are:
Fresno, -27.2 percent (319 permits)
Hanford, -18.3 percent (67 permits)
Madera, -28.8 percent (141 permits)
Modesto, -32.6 percent (300 permits)
Stockton, -20.8 percent (350 permits)
Sacramento, -41 percent (917 permits)
3 comments:
the surprise to me is that so many permits are still being issued when the fact that the market has turned is so glaringly obvious to anyone who is not drunk and blind.
Not all of those permits are going to lead to built houses or completed developments. Down in Modesto, new developments no longer build model homes. They tell potential buyers to "tour online" and then sign up for a house. I'm starting to wonder if the builders are raising money this way to finish older developments, the way some condo developers in Minneapolis don't even buy the land until the project is pre-sold to homeowners.
Building permits must have existed for the partly completed housing development in Modesto that was BULLDOZED in the mid-1990s. They probably also had been pulled to build more houses in the never-built subdivision where my parents own one of the models.
One agent for Centex Homes told me they have undeveloped land here in Bakersfield. I asked when building would start. My answer was the property may be sold and never break ground.
This land is in the NW part of Bakersfield, one of the most sought after places to live here.
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