FIRST-QUARTER SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING PERMITS

The permitting pace for single-family home construction reached its highest mark since last summer in March. The 1,030 permits more than doubled the 451 of the previous month. However, the total for the first three months of 1989 is the lowest first-quarter count for any of the last four years.

New permits in this year’s first quarter compared to

1988 decreased mostly in the unincorporated areas and in the cities of San Clemente and Garden Grove. The largest gains in permits issued were in Orange, San Juan Capistrano, La Habra and Yorba Linda.

Here’s a look at this year’s first quarter compared to last year, on a city-by-city basis:

January- January- City March 1988 March 1989 Difference Unincorporated areas 1,495 856 -639 San Clemente 119 33 -86 Garden Grove 54 1 -53 Anaheim 116 77 -39 Huntington Beach 104 69 -35 La Palma 23 0 -23 Irvine 60 43 -17 Villa Park 16 5 -11 Tustin 10 0 -10 Buena Park 8 2 -6 Newport Beach 27 21 -6 Westminster 4 1 -3 Brea 0 0 N/C Cypress 0 0 N/C Fullerton 8 8 N/C Los Alamitos 0 0 N/C Placentia 0 0 N/C Fountain Valley 2 3 +1 Santa Ana 3 4 +1 Seal Beach 2 3 +1 Stanton 0 1 +1 Costa Mesa 6 8 +2 Laguna Beach 17 22 +5 Yorba Linda 104 130 +26 La Habra 1 33 +32 San Juan Capistrano 11 49 +38 Orange 137 204 +67 Mission Viejo N/A 387 -- COUNTY TOTAL 2,327 1,960 -367

N/A Information not available

N/C No change from 1988 to 1989

Source: Construction Industry Research Board