CLIPBOARD : Multifamily Home Futures
If anything is to save the county home-building market, it will be multifamily housing--townhouses, condos and the like. After nine months, the most recent period for which information is available, multifamily permits are holding their own.
This year’s January-September total, buoyed by a 79% leap from August to September, is running 10% ahead of 1989’s comparable figure. That modest gain is a bright spot in an Orange County building market that is 25% behind 1988 and even more behind 1987 and 1986.
Compared to 1989, 13 cities had increases during the first nine months of 1990--most notably Irvine, Tustin and South County unincorporated areas. Anaheim leads the list of the decliners (there were 10) compared to last year, with 825 fewer such permits. And five cities have issued no permits this year as well as last (at least during the January-September period).
Here’s how the cities stack up, listed from the largest increase to the largest decrease in permits issued:
Jan.-Sept. Jan.-Sept. 1989-’90 City 1989 1990 Difference Irvine 171 1,026 +855 Tustin 130 801 +671 Unincorporated areas 2,959 3,531 +572 Orange 68 385 +317 Garden Grove 134 280 +146 Cypress 20 80 +60 Costa Mesa 29 79 +50 Brea 17 57 +40 Dana Point * 28 67 +39 Westminster 42 64 +22 Huntington Beach 259 280 +21 Placentia 35 40 +5 Los Alamitos 10 14 +4 Stanton 12 14 +2 Fountain Valley 0 0 No change La Palma 0 0 No change Seal Beach 0 0 No change Villa Park 0 0 No change Yorba Linda 0 0 No change Laguna Beach 2 0 -2 San Juan Capistrano 4 0 -4 La Habra 20 6 -14 Buena Park 144 73 -71 Santa Ana 164 36 -128 San Clemente 151 18 -133 Newport Beach 192 51 -141 Fullerton 385 107 -278 Mission Viejo 361 0 -361 Anaheim 1,136 311 -825 Laguna Niguel** N/A 0 -- COUNTY TOTAL 6,473 7,137 +664
* Dana Point was a new city for 1989 tabulations; 1989 data before June is included in “unincorporated areas” total.
** Laguna Niguel is a new city for these tabulations. For 1989 totals, information is included in “unincorporated areas” total, as is pre-July information for 1990.
N/A: Information not available
Source: Construction Industry Research Board
A Nine-Month Comparison of Permists Issued in thousands 1990: 7,137 1989: 6,473 1988: 9,575 1987: 13,341 1986: 11,309 Source: Construction Industry Research Board