New Home Construction Booming
New home construction in Ventura County continues to surge upward and is expected to post a 78% increase this year compared with 1993, when the state first began pulling out of a steep recession.
Thousand Oaks, Oxnard and Simi Valley are leading the way in new homes being built, according to a study compiled by the Burbank-based Construction Industry Research Board.
Single-family home construction has increased from 1,166 new dwellings in 1993 to an estimated 2,153 expected by the end of the year. And the average number of new homes completed each month has jumped from 96 in 1993 to 179 this year.
The speed of residential development may worry some who fear a bottoming-out similar to the one that broke the industry’s back in the 1980s.
But Mark Schniepp, director of the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project, said the construction boom reflects the county’s current dearth of homes in spite of an overwhelming demand.
“Ventura County is in a very desperate situation in regards to housing,” Schniepp said. “There simply aren’t enough homes to satisfy demand right now, so what we’re seeing is very rational, very controlled and very good.”
Since 1990, a total of 9,947 single-family homes have been built in the county, 7,363 of which have gone up since 1993.
Much of the growth has occurred in Oxnard, which has added 1,260 homes, and in Thousand Oaks, where 2,022 homes have been built during the past four years.
Tom and Nicole Andersen and their 2-year-old daughter Sadie are among Thousand Oaks’ newest residents. The family moved into a new, three-bedroom home in Lang Ranch last August after months of combing the San Fernando Valley for one that fit both their price range and taste.
For the Andersens, buying a new home made sense, and with a young daughter to care for, Ventura County seemed the right choice.
“We knew what we were getting with a new home,” said Nicole Andersen, 26. “And even though interest rates were a little bit high, the time seemed to be right.”
New housing construction has moved at a slower pace in cities like Santa Paula, which saw only 45 single-family homes built during the past four years, and Port Hueneme, which has not had a new home built since 1995.
While new home development is surging across the county, construction of multifamily apartment complexes, which plummeted from an all-time high of 1,250 in 1990 to a low of 206 three years later, is also rebounding, but with far less gusto.
Since 1993, the number of multifamily complexes under construction has increased a modest 40% to an estimated 289 expected by the end of the year, with most of the building confined to Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.
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While the fast-paced increase in the number of single-family homes under construction is regarded by economists and real estate agents alike as a correction to a severely unbalanced market, similar, albeit more modest, growth in commercial and industrial complexes has surprised some.
“No one thought that was going to happen so soon,” said Jeff Meyers, president of the Meyers Group real estate information and consulting firm. “That’s been the real story because it shows there’s something really unique going on in Ventura County.”
Since 1993, the value of commercial and industrial development has increased just 4% from $179,137,000 to $186,327,000 in 1996. That number is expected to jump an estimated 15% to $213,473,000 by the end of this year.
While commercial and industrial development rates may seem slow compared to the increases in residential construction, Meyers said the sector’s growing at all is surprising.
According to Meyers, the rapid building in the 1980s, followed by a economic crunch in the early 1990s, resulted in a vacancy rate that topped out at 9%.
That has since changed, as more and more businesses are relocating or opening new outlets in the area. Most of the nonresidential development has been in communities like Thousand Oaks, Oxnard and Camarillo.
“Ventura County threw us a curve ball,” Meyers said. “Most economists thought we wouldn’t see this kind of turnaround until the next market cycle.”
While booms and busts are as cyclical as the seasons, Schniepp said he sees the trend holding well into the future.
“Everything in the economy is moving forward, but it’s also stable,” he said. “Down the road we’re expecting the county to rebound even further, as well as create many more new jobs.”
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Arthur Simpson, who has operated a contracting firm for the past 20 years, is among those who has benefited from the construction boom.
During the worst years of the recession, the 60-year-old owner of Quality Finish Carpentry in Moorpark said he was forced to lay off most of his crew. He even lost his place of business after profits evaporated.
But since the county’s stellar rebound, Simpson has had more work than he can handle. He’s even hired a handful of new carpenters to help meet the demand.
“We’re all just playing catch-up right now,” said Simpson, who is now working on more than 150 projects across the county. “But it’s better than I’ve ever seen it, so everyone’s hoping it lasts.”
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Ventura County Construction
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Total Total Value Total Value New New New Commercial Total Value Housing Residential and Industrial All New Units Buildings Buildings Construction *1997 2,442 $538,528,000 $213,473,000 $752,005,000 1996 2,353 $476,050,000 $186,327,000 $662,377,000 1995 2,166 $442,348,000 $187,023,000 $629,371,000 1994 2,464 $408,220,000 $157,061,000 $565,281,000 1993 1,372 $281,558,000 $179,137,000 $460,695,000 1992 1,720 $309,073,000 $154,875,000 $463,948,000 1991 2,194 $316,692,000 $178,910,000 $495,602,000 1990 2,612 $370,968,000 $234,312,000 $605,280,000 1989 5,026 $661,846,000 $246,153,000 $907,999,000 1988 5,154 $668,389,000 $264,029,000 $932,418,000 1987 4,205 $517,312,000 $193,174,000 $710,486,000 1986 7,513 $754,241,000 $275,325,000 $1,029,566,000
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* Projected end-of-the-year totals
Source: Construction Industry Research Board
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* HOME SALES ALSO UP: B4
