Thirty-seven percent less new housing was permitted in 2008 than in 2007 in the San Francisco Bay Area according to a recently completed Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) annual survey. Not surprisingly, regional results indicate a significant drop in permits compared to 2007, though certain areas of the region experienced an increase over the previous year.
ABAG is releasing the Housing Survey Data in advance of issuing the 2009 Housing Report. New this year, the Housing Survey Data includes information on affordable housing (units that are affordable to households earning less than 120 percent of the area's median income), as well as information on market rate housing. Data is now available at http://www.abag.ca.gov/pdfs/2009_Housing_Data.pdf.