Capital-area homebuilders started 199 new houses during October in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties, a 31 percent hike from September's 152 starts, the California Building Industry Association said Tuesday.
Starts rose in the region even as they fell statewide by 5.5 percent from September to October. California builders took out 2,815 building permits for single-family homes, apartments, town houses and condos.
Regionally and statewide, builders are starting far fewer houses than last year. Capital-area homebuilders, weathering the fourth year of a housing slump, have started 2,387 dwellings in the first 10 months of 2009, 51 percent fewer than the same period last year.
Statewide, builders started 29,901 new residences from January through October, and expect to finish the year at about 36,000. Like last year, that would be the lowest tally since the state started keeping records in 1954.
Builders in Yuba and Sutter counties started 10 homes in October, down from 20 in September. They started 136 the first 10 months of 2009, compared to 233 the same time last year, CBIA said.
--Call The Sacramento Bee's Jim Wasserman, (916) 321-1102 or email him at [email protected]. Read his blog on real estate, Home Front, at www.sacbee.com/blogs.