State Home Building Dips 11.5% From 1988

California housing production was at an annual rate of 224,800 units in the first quarter of this year, an 11.5% decline from the 254,100 annual rate figure for last year but an increase of 4.7% over the first quarter of 1988, according to Harold A. Boex, president of the California Building Industry Assn. (CBIA).

Boex, a Vallejo-based builder/developer, attributes the decline to the continued drop in multifamily permits: Permits for multifamily units were at an annual rate of 68,000 in March, down 9.7% from the 75,300 rate for March, 1988.