Annual housing starts fumbled again in 2010 to the second lowest levels since 1959, 2009 being the worst, with about 529,000 home built last year. And while building permit activity rose in December, it appears to have risen to beat some news laws going into effect on Jan 1, 2011 in California, New York, Florida and some other states.
These numbers portend a forthcoming shortage in housing in the next few years if 2011 continues to with such anemic numbers. Housing starts historically average about 1.2 million just in order to keep up population growth. The phenomenon of doubling up really seems to be taking place in masse and here locally.