Valley housing industry tanks as sales of new homes plunge - Modesto Bee
Last year was dismal for new home builders, and this year is expected to be worse.
The construction industry has collapsed throughout the Northern San Joaquin Valley, with builders going bankrupt, delaying developments or simply quitting.
The reason: virtually no new home sales.
With banks selling foreclosed houses at bargain prices, unemployment rates soaring and mortgage lending standards tightening, most builders say they can't lower prices far enough to attract buyers.
So most of them have stopped building, causing home construction to shrink to the lowest levels in more than 50 years.
Here are the facts:
Only 97 residential building permits were issued in Modesto last year, which was about 7 percent of normal. During the past 40 years, the city has averaged about 1,300 permits annually.
Stanislaus County's single-family home building permits plunged about 90 percent in 2008 compared with the 2005 building boom peak. Just 464 permits were issued last year, and builders predict there will be only 430 this year.