CLIPBOARD : Multifamily Home Futures

Not even the multifamily half of the home-building futures quotient is holding up through the current recession in the construction industry. In January, the most recent month for which information is available, just 57 permits were issued for future multifamily home construction.

These permits--for apartments, condos and the like--never dipped below the 250 neighborhood through last year, as the recession began to shut down county home construction. The January total, however, is 77% decline from the previous month (December) and a 90% drop from January 1990. It is, in fact, the lowest total permit total for any month during the last five years. It is also the first time since November 1989 that there were fewer multifamily home permits issued (57) than single-family permits (72).

Irvine and the county’s unincorporated areas recorded the largest downward shifts compared to last January; San Clemente, Fullerton and Tustin actually bucked the trend, with increases.

Here’s how the cities stack up, listed from the largest decrease to the largest increase in permits issued:

January January 1990-’91 City 1990 1991 Difference Irvine 287 0 -287 Unincorporated areas 154 12 -142 Huntington Beach 36 0 -36 Buena Park 31 0 -31 Garden Grove 22 0 -22 Dana Point 16 6 -10 Westminster 9 0 -9 Costa Mesa 4 0 -4 Anaheim 2 2 No change Brea 0 0 No change Cypress 0 0 No change Fountain Valley 0 0 No change La Habra 0 0 No change La Palma 0 0 No change Laguna Beach 0 0 No change Los Alamitos 0 0 No change Mission Viejo 0 0 No change Newport Beach 8 8 No change Orange 0 0 No change Placentia 0 0 No change San Juan Capistrano 0 0 No change Santa Ana 0 0 No change Stanton 0 0 No change Villa Park 0 0 No change Yorba Linda 0 0 No change Tustin 4 5 +1 Fullerton 0 4 +4 San Clemente 0 16 +16 Seal Beach * 0 N/A -- Laguna Niguel ** N/A 4 -- COUNTY TOTAL 573 57 -516

*No data available for Seal Beach; estimates used to obtain county total.

**New city for 1990 tabulations; 1990 data before July included in “unincorporated areas” total.

Source: Construction Industry Research Board