Single-Family Home Futures

If a recession has already hit the housing industry in Orange County, builders can point to the single-family element of the equation when placing the blame. Although June’s total of permits issued for single-family homes was the largest of the year, the six-month total for 1990 is by far the lowest for any of the last five years. During the January-June stretch, the most recent period for which information is available, 2,218 permits were issued--47% fewer than the comparable period last year and 70% below the 1988 mark.

Major declines in permits for Mission Viejo and Orange as well as the unincorporated areas are at the heart of the countywide drop. Although 11 cities recorded increases in such permits from the January-June period last year, those jumps added together do not exceed the declines for either of the separate three areas where major slumps in permits occurred.

Here’s the city-by-city change:

Jan.-June Jan.-June 1989-1990 City 1989 1990 % Change Mission Viejo 690 45 -645 Unincorporated areas 1,842 1,224 -618 Orange 349 49 -300 Yorba Linda 279 127 -152 San Clemente 183 84 -99 Buena Park 92 4 -88 San Juan Capistrano 140 52 -88 Huntington Beach 129 58 -71 La Habra 87 20 -67 Fullerton 60 11 -49 Irvine 43 30 -13 Villa Park 18 6 -12 Anaheim 108 101 -7 Fountain Valley 7 4 -3 Garden Grove 4 2 -2 Seal Beach 12 10 -2 Westminster 2 0 -2 Los Alamitos 0 0 No change Laguna Beach 31 33 +2 Stanton 1 4 +3 Cypress 1 6 +5 Santa Ana 33 48 +15 Tustin 0 16 +16 Placentia 0 18 +18 La Palma 0 19 +19 Newport Beach 39 66 +27 Brea 4 36 +32 Costa Mesa 13 60 +47 Dana Point 4* 85 +81 Laguna Niguel N/A N/A -- COUNTY TOTAL 4,171 2,218 -1953

* Data for June only; information for months prior to June included in “unincorporated areas” total.

N/A: Information not available; city number included in “unincorporated areas” total.

A SIX-MONTH COMPARISON

1986: 4,533 1987: 5,218 1988: 7,309 1989: 4,171 1990: 2,218 Source: Construction Industry Research Board