Housing starts expected to boom

The new year should see the largest number of housing starts in California in a decade, according to economic forecasts.

However, new-home production will continue to fall far short of the state’s housing needs, according to California Building Industry Assn. chief executive Robert Rivinius.

Despite a reform of the construction defect dispute process last year, which should encourage housing production, state policymakers need to do more, Rivinius said.

The Construction Industry Research Board forecasts 170,000 new homes and apartments will be built in 2003, a 3.7% increase from 2002. The organization forecasts 124,000 single-family homes will be built this year, up 2.9% from 2002, while 46,000 multi-family units will be constructed, up 5.7% from the previous year.

The 170,000 homes and apartments would be the most built since 1989 and would be twice as many as built during the early 1990s, when housing production plummeted.

A separate forecast by the National Assn. of Home Builders, projects a 3.3% increase in new home construction in 2003.