Construction Permits

California’s residential construction activity measured by residential building permits issued and residential building permit valuation. A building permit is required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding onto pre-existing structures, and for major renovations. Data collected include number of housing units permitted by single-family and multi-family breakdown, and permit valuation. Building permit data is compiled monthly through Building Permits Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau from approximately 8,600 permit-issuing jurisdictions, using a cut-off sampling design from a targeted universe of 20,000 jurisdictions.

Annual Data, from 1975

• Residential (units and valuation)

Annual Data, from 1960

• California and U.S. Residential Building Permits and U.S. Housing Starts