…Housing Starts: Nevertheless, Los Angeles has been registering a strong level of new home groundbreakings. Its residential building permit count of 14,582 units year to date in 2016 is exactly the same as for New York, according to the Census Bureau…
I’m going to take an educated guess that this permit count represents mainly conversions. There are many aging, very large low-rise apt complexes concentrated in a handful of communities on LA’s west side which are likely planned for condo conversions and possible teardowns to the studs for “remodel” to modern rental apts. And perhaps a small percentage of permits issued represent scattered infill custom homes (after complete teardown) all over the county and major remodels of existing SFRs.
…Next best for dwelling permits so far in 2016, on the West Coast, is Seattle (8,694 units). Portland (6,072) and San Francisco (6, 063) are almost even as they vie for third spot…
Again, same for SF. Except in this case, aging (old, actually) 4-12 unit bldgs are being razed for mid-rise and even high-rise (in districts where permitted) apt/condo projects to serve the SV worker-bee set.
