Sales, Permits Point Toward New-Home Market Upturn

Southern California’s new-home market showed signs of improving in the second quarter, and should grow even stronger in 1992.

That’s the conclusion of a report issued by the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California, a nonprofit real-estate “think-tank” headquartered at Cal Poly Pomona.

The report said that there were 14,821 unsold new homes in the seven-county Southland area at the end of the second quarter, a 29% decline from the first three months of the year.

Permits for the construction of new homes, a barometer of future activity, rose 9% from the first quarter but were down 36% from the second quarter of 1990.

“It appears that the worst of the housing recession is behind us, but I don’t think we’ll see a big resurgence in construction this year,” said Michael Carney, an economist and the council’s executive director.

Carney said he expects sales and price appreciation in the new-home market to quicken next year as the economy improves and the number of homes currently for sale declines.