CLIPBOARD : Multifamily Home Futures

After six months of 1991, there’s good news and bad news for those in the multifamily housing business.

The good news is that for the month of June, the most recent one for which information is available, there were 662 permits issued--these are for residences such as town homes, condos, apartments and the like. That was the single biggest month of the year, a 26% increase from the previous month.

The bad news: On a year-to-date basis, 1991 still lags well behind 1990 and the previous four years. The 1,925 permits issued this year represent a 66% decline from last year’s first-six-months total.

Compared to last year, there has been a huge decrease in activity for the county’s unincorporated areas to go with declines in 14 cities. Six cities have increased activity, with Anaheim being the most conspicuous. And eight others have issued no such permits during this year’s January-June period, just as they did not last year.

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

Jan.-June Jan.-June 1990-’91 City 1990 1991 Difference Unincorporated areas 3,103 464 -2,639 Irvine 736 129 -607 Orange 378 2 -376 Tustin 367 109 -258 Garden Grove 248 26 -222 Cypress 78 8 -70 Dana Point 59 6 -53 Brea 52 2 -50 Westminster 53 3 -50 Fullerton 64 17 -47 Buena Park 67 25 -42 Santa Ana 30 6 -24 Newport Beach 32 18 -14 Stanton 14 0 -14 Huntington Beach 46 42 -4 Fountain Valley 0 0 No change La Palma 0 0 No change Mission Viejo 0 0 No change Placentia 0 0 No change San Juan Capistrano 0 0 No change Seal Beach 0 0 No change Villa Park 0 0 No change Yorba Linda 0 0 No change La Habra 0 2 +2 Laguna Beach 0 2 +2 Los Alamitos 14 18 +4 San Clemente 12 23 +11 Costa Mesa 53 137 +84 Anaheim 234 804 +570 Laguna Niguel * N/A 82 -- COUNTY TOTAL 5,640 1,925 -3,715

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

N/A: Information not available

Source: Construction Industry Research Board