Remember the summer of 2007?
The first iPhone was for sale. Justin Timberlake topped the music charts, and Jason Bourne was No. 1 at the box office. The Anaheim Ducks had just won hockey’s Stanley Cup.
Read more Orange County officials seek input on planning for natural disasters
Oh, the world’s financial markets were cratering.
And the pace of Southern California building permitting wasn’t to be seen again – until this year.
My trusty spreadsheet peeked at building permits filed in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties and found that developers in the 12 months ending in March had plans approved for the most housing since August 2007.
Those 59,900 Southern California permits were also 7% above the pace of the previous four years, a period seen as a building boom in much of the nation.
Clearly, numerous legislative nudges to get cities to approve more housing as a key fix for housing costs appear to be working.
Lofty housing expenses, charged by builders and landlords alike, also helped to attract new developments.
A short-lived period of modest interest rates also motivated developers.
Southern oddity
Yet this is not a statewide surge.
California permitting outside Southern California totaled 49,000 units over the last 12 months. Yes, that’s the fastest pace since July 2024, but it’s also 12% below the previous four years.
So clearly, local forces are at work in Southern California – including a rebuilding effort needed to replace housing destroyed in the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.
Conversely, a construction cooling can be seen nationally.
U.S. permits, minus California, were filed in the past 12 months to build 1.31 million housing units. That’s the lowest level since August 2020 and a 12% slower pace than the previous four years.
Multi moves
Multifamily is the homebuilding star.
During the past year, Southern California builders created plans for 35,400 multifamily units. The category is largely apartment complexes but also includes certain ownership townhomes.
That’s the swiftest permitting pace since September 2015, and it’s 19% above the 2021-25 average. That’s quite the difference from single-family permits as homebuilders cut planning by 6% in the same timeframe.
Read more Garden Grove High Graduation 2026: Our best photos of the ceremony
Multifamily planning runs cooler elsewhere, too.
Ponder statewide trends outside Southern California. Multifamily permits hit their highest level since February 2024. Yet it’s 4% below 2021-25 activity. But that dip is far smaller than the 16% drop in single-family permitting.
Nationally, 474,000 multifamily permits were filed outside of California. That was the second-fastest pace since May 2024, but it’s 14% below the 2021-25 plan. Note that U.S. single-family permitting, minus California, is down 11% in the same period.
The 8,500 multifamily permits were the fastest since September 2025 and 21% above the 2021-25 average. Single-family permitting rose only 6%.
The big question
Is this the start of a local building boom? Or just a blip?
Here’s some perspective. While Southern California’s last 12 months of permitting are 6% above the average for construction planning dating to 1988, they’re also 60% below 1989’s peak.
Elsewhere in the state, recent permitting is 18% below average and 55% below its 1990 high.
Ponder the rest of the nation. Even with depressed permitting, it’s 6% above the 39-year norm. And it’s “only” 34% below the 2006 top.
Nevertheless, consider swings in housing costs coinciding with the recent permit surge in Southern California.
The region’s median home price dropped 1% in the year ended in March, according to Attom’s math.
And the typical rent in the region was also off 1% in the 12 months ended in April, according to ApartmentList figures.
Not huge savings, but good news for any housing seeker’s wallet.
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]
Read more Man wanted over 3 killings apprehended after an intense search of Hawaii’s Big Island
- Try Jonathan Lansner’s Substack collection of economic trends. CLICK HERE!