Housing Starts Up 17.9% in 1st 10 Months of Year

Ventura County builders started construction on 1,625 houses in the first 10 months of this year--17.9% more than the 1,378 started in the same period a year ago.

While starts of new houses are up, the building of condominiums and apartments is down, the Construction Industry Research Board reports.

The trade group said that 178 multifamily units were started in the county through October of this year, about a third of the 529 begun during the same period last year.

Compared with last year, the value of industrial building projects in the first 10 months was off 34.7%, the board reports.

Other year-to-year valuation changes include office buildings, up 151.8%, and retail structures, up 129.9%.