Starts slowwwwing down

Total housing starts dropped 42.4 percent in California in February compared to the same month last year, according to statistics compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board Board, a nonprofit research center, and starts were down 32.8 percent in the first two months of the year compared to the same period last year.

The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro area remained the busiest area of the state for housing starts but went from 7,167 starts in the first two months of 2006 to 4,483 starts in the first two months of 2006 -- a 37.4 percent decline.

Starts in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metro area dropped from 4,847 in the first two months of 2006 to 2,893 in the first two months of 2007 -- a 40.3 percent drop.

Starts during this period were up in three of 29 metro areas reported by the research center, and each of these metro areas had fewer than 300 starts: starts rose 39.4 percent in the Salinas area, from 104 to 145; 5 percent in the Santa Rosa-Petaluma metro area, from 280 to 294; and rose 2.9 percent in the Hanford-Corcoran metro, from 105 to 108.

Multi-family starts dropped 36.8 percent in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2006, falling 51.4 percent in the Anaheim area, 50 percent in the Los Angeles area, 30.4 percent in the Oakland area, 25.4 percent in the San Diego area and 20.2 percent in the Riverside area (these were the busiest metro areas for multi-family starts).

Multi-family starts in the San Francisco area skidded almost to a stop in the first two months of 2007 compared to the same period last year, falling from 704 starts to 46 starts -- a 93.5 percent decline.

Single-family housing starts fell 40.9 percent in the Riverside area, 28.5 percent in the Bakersfield area, 24.1 percent in the San Diego area, 23.1 percent in the Los Angeles Area, and 14.3 percent in the Sacramento area in the first two months of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006 (these were the busiest areas for single-family starts).

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