Bay Area Housing Permits Near 30-Year Low

Permits for construction of new Bay Area housing units hit a 30-year low in 2009. Activity has rebounded since then, but 2010 is still on track to be the second-worst year for Bay Area housing construction since at least 1980.

I annualized the July year-to-date figures to get an estimate (roughly 7,000 units) for calendar 2010. That's less than half of the 30-year average of around 19,000 units. Although I didn't show it in the chart, the pattern of permit activity is nearly identical in each of the three main metropolitan areas of the Bay Area, i.e., Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose.