How’s the Construction Industry Faring?
2005 was a landmark year in the region economically, and as a comparison, is useful in gauging how far things have fallen. That year, there were 4,895 building permits issued in Placer County and 768 permits in Nevada County. The Town of Truckee issued its highest number since incorporation, a total of 513 residential and commercial permits. In 2008, as we near the end of the building season, only 112 total permits have been issued in Truckee. In July, the California Economic Development Department released numbers showing a 9.5 percent decrease in construction sector employment in the state between May 2007 and May 2008, equating to a loss of more than 84,000 jobs overall. Nevada County experienced a decline of nearly 13 percent. The Public Policy Institute of California, in a March 2008 report summarizing California’s housing crisis, found that statewide, building permits declined almost 50 percent from a peak in 2004. While we have reasons to believe we are insulated from the most d
