Sharp Rise Reported for Unsold-Home Inventory

The number of new Southland homes under construction or sitting empty has more than doubled in the last year, according to a new report.

There were 18,069 new homes under construction or up for sale in the six-county Southland area at the end of June, according to the nonprofit Real Estate Research Council of Southern California at Cal Poly Pomona.

That was up 45% from the start of the year and 175% above a year ago.

“The numbers confirm what most of us already know--there has been a sharp slowdown in the new-home market,” said Michael Carney, executive director of the research group and a professor of finance and real estate at the university.

Nearly 4,040 new homes were either for sale or under construction in Los Angeles County at midyear, up 65% from the start of 1990 and a whopping 482% increase from a year earlier.

There were 3,029 new homes waiting for buyers in Orange County, up 45% from the start of the year and up 141% from mid-1989.

In Riverside County, the 3,901 homes under construction or sitting empty reflected a 10% increase from the start of the year and an 84% jump from the middle of ’89.

There were 3,112 new homes that were unsold in San Diego County, up 52% from the start of the year and up 110% from a year ago.

The 1,212 homes under construction or for sale in Ventura at the midyear was up 34% from the start of the year and up 166% from a year earlier.

There were 2,779 homes being built or for sale in San Bernardino County at the end of June, exactly twice the number of homes available at the start of the year and nearly four times the number of homes for sale in mid-’89.