As urban areas across California grapple with a statewide housing shortage that has contributed to high housing costs, the pace of development in Southern California has quickened. But a new analysis from the Orange County Register shows that LA County continues to trail behind the rest of the nation in housing construction.
The report is based on recent data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. It shows that 16,600 units of housing were constructed in LA County between July of 2015 and July of 2016—an increase of 0.47 percent.
That's significantly better than the 0.33 percent yearly increase that the county averaged between 2010 and 2015, but it's well behind the 0.68 percent increase in housing supply seen nationwide last year.
Meanwhile, during the same one-year time period, population in just the city of Los Angeles rose by 27,173, according to Census data.
Housing construction was sluggish last year across Southern California, with the entire region adding around 34,000 units. That represents an increase of 0.53 percent.
Nationwide, development still hasn't caught up with its peak pre-recession pace. In 2007, the country's housing stock increased by an impressive 1.4 percent. That's around twice the nationwide increase seen this past year and three times the amount of housing growth in LA County.
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