California Construction Up

February 1, 2001

La Jolla, CA.--California construction activity rose last year to its highest level in more than ten years, a real estate information service reported.

Financial institutions provided $23.1 billion in funding for construction projects last year. That was up 3.4 percent from $22.3 billion for 1999, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last year's total was the highest since $32.0 billion was made available to developers in 1990. The decade's low point was in 1993 when $6.9 billion was provided in construction financing.

"These are dollars that get pumped right into the local economy in the form of job payroll and building supply purchasing. It will be interesting to see what happens to construction activity during the next few months when lower interest rates play off against increased caution on the part of financial institutions," said Mike Ela, DataQuick president.

The financial institutions most active in construction lending last year were Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank and Imperial Bank.

DataQuick monitors all real estate activity in California and other states and provides information to consumers, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. The numbers include all construction loans, commercial as well as residential. A construction loan is typically recorded a few days before building activity actually begins.

San Diego, Riverside and Sacramento counties experienced the strongest increases in building activity last year, while coastal counties from Santa Cruz down to Santa Barbara saw decreases, DataQuick reported.

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

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