New-Home Building on Track to Reach ’04 Level

California builders are on track to construct about the same number of new homes this year as they did in 2004, industry data show.

The number of housing permits pulled last month rose 8.2% to 17,875 compared with a year earlier, the Construction Industry Research Board reported. Permits were higher for both single-family and multifamily construction, the group said.

Yet, total residential building starts were down 16.4% in July compared with the month before, when 21,385 permits were pulled.

The robust year-over-year growth points to total new-home construction to be on par with last year’s levels, which were the highest in 15 years. In 2004, more than 212,000 homes were built.

-- Annette Haddad