REAL ESTATE : Home Construction Rises 12%; Build-Up in Apartments Seen

Despite a slowdown in new home sales, as late as April builders in Orange County were still constructing more homes than they did last year.

That’s according to F.W. Dodge, a McGraw-Hill Inc. division that collects and markets construction industry data.

Dodge says $477 million worth of contracts for homes were let during the first four months of 1990, compared to $427 million last year, a 12% jump.

But non-residential construction--offices, factories, retail stores and the like--declined to $348 million from $383 million, a 9% drop. In all, construction rose 2% over last year.

That’s far better than the national average, which dropped 9%, Dodge reported.

So what’s going on here? Construction of more saleable apartments and condominiums seems to be accounting for much of the residential construction. Single-family houses are priced so high that they knock many buyers out of the market, suggests the Construction Industry Research Board, a Burbank group which tracks construction through building permits.