Rise in Permits a Good Sign for Home Building : Construction: Study shows a 12.5% increase in issuances for single-family dwellings in the county through September.

In a positive sign for Orange County’s ailing home building industry, a research group study shows a 12.5% hike in the number of permits issued for building single-family homes in the first nine months of 1993.

More important than the boost to 3,355 permits from 2,983 a year earlier is the consistency of the Construction Industry Research Board’s data, which shows same-month increases in new home permits in six of the nine months, including five of the past six months.

“I think this certainly signals that (the housing industry in) Orange County has passed the bottom and is starting to show some life,” said Benjamin Bartolotto, research director for the Burbank-based research board.

In 1988, the busiest year for housing in the past decade, builders in Orange County had obtained permits for 8,759 single-family homes by the time September ended. The nine-month totals had declined steadily from then until now.

But if the home-building business is rebounding, no matter how slowly, it is doing it alone. Other segments of the construction industry still are mired deep in the recessionary muck that has slowed to a crawl development of new offices, stores, factories and apartments.

The research board report for September shows that builders obtained permits for 1,590 apartment units in the first nine months of the year, down 17% from the same period in 1992 and a 34% decline from January through September of 1991.

At the peak of the county’s apartment building boom in 1987, when the federal government still gave builders tax breaks to build rental housing, permits had been issued for 13,342 units by the end of September.

This year, non-residential construction--which is measured by the dollar value of projects rather than number of permits--was down 13% to $373.2 million in the first nine months, from $429.9 million in the year-ago period. The tally remained woefully under the 1988 nine-month peak of $1.28 billion.

Industrial projects were down 80% for the nine months to $3.6 million from $18.3 million a year earlier; office construction, though still weak, was up 88% to $47.9 million from $25.4 million, and retail construction was down 14% to $61.1 million from $71 million.

In 1988, by comparison, the value of industrial building permits in the first nine months hit $93.4 million; office construction permits were valued at $379.7 million, and permits for new retail stores totaled $217.3 million.