SD homebuilding still in the dumps

After the housing bubble burst in the 2008 period, the United States has been very slow to replenish the housing stock, or inventory. The partly explains the rise in home prices.

San Diego County is the worst of the major metro areas in California, according to Zillow.com. From 1985 through 2000, the county issued 3.6 housing permits per 1000 residents. In the post-crash 2008-2018 period, that plummeted to 0.8 units per 1000 population.

By contrast, the drop in the Los Angeles metro area was 1.5 to 0.5; San Francisco 2.3 to 0.8, and San Jose (Silicon Valley) 2.0 to 0.8. The findings bolster the views of local economists such as Kelly Cunningham, who has said for some time that barriers to home construction have been a major reason for the fast rise in housing prices in San Diego County.