REAL ESTATE

Modest Building Rate: More about the housing supply in the future:

The Construction Industry Research Board in Burbank reports that through April this year, home builders in Orange County applied for permits to start work on 1,519 new single-family homes and 642 apartments to be built in the next year or so. That compares to permits for 1,491 single-family units and 697 apartments for the same period last year.

The single-family permit tally for the four months is the highest since the first third of 1989 but is only 40% of the 3,841 permits pulled in the first four months of 1987, when the building boom was in full bloom.

By 1987 standards, the latest apartment total is barely worth writing about--just 10% of that boom year’s four-month total of 6,136 units.