REAL ESTATE

According to the volume of building permits they have taken out, builders are cutting back on every type of building in Orange County except single-family houses.

Through the first half of the year, builders took out 40% more permits for houses than they did in the first half of 1987. Permits totaled 7,300 for the first half of this year, compared to 5,200 for the period last year, according to the Construction Industry Research Board, which monitors building permits.

But permits for multifamily units--apartments and condominiums--dropped 24%, to 7,000 from 9,200.

Meanwhile, the value of building permits for non-residential buildings dropped 12% through the first half of the year, to $688 million.

Taking the biggest dive were the figures for industrial buildings such as factories and warehouses, down 43% to $48 million as Orange County land becomes too expensive to construct buildings with such low rents.

But fewer offices are also being planned by developers, based on the value of building permits, down 18% to $185 million as the local office market struggles with relatively high vacancy rates.

New stores were off only 15%, to $111 million.