San Diego County had the biggest increase in homebuilding in Southern California in 2020 during a pandemic that shuttered much of the economy.

There were 9,486 homes constructed in 2020, up 18% from a dismal 2019, said the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California. It is still way off from the more than 17,000 homes built in 2004 but was a return to about average for what has been constructed annually since the region climbed out of the Great Recession.

Real estate experts say the region is still short of meeting its housing needs. Despite many stories of people leaving California because of high costs, San Diego County’s population has continued to grow, albeit more slowly.

San Diego real estate analyst Gary London said the region should be building up to 20,000 homes a year to keep up with demand. He said the last year the county made a dent was 2005, when 15,258 homes were built.

“The numbers remain quite literally one half, or less, of what the true need in San Diego is,” he said.

There were 3,160 single-family homes constructed in 2020, up 4 percent from the previous year. Construction of 6,326 multifamily homes — apartments, condos and townhouses — increased 26% from 2019.

There are ongoing reasons why construction could slow in the next few years: Lack of land, possible changes in financing for new projects and rising material costs.

San Diego County’s population has been growing slowly in recent years. From 2018 to 2019, San Diego County added 4,469 people, say U.S. Census estimates. That is substantially down from the first half of the decade when the population was growing by an average of 38,000 annually.

After its reduced construction numbers in 2019, San Diego County had the biggest jump in Southern California with its 18% permit increase last year. The only other positive area was Riverside County, up by 10%.

Los Angeles County produced 5% fewer housing units; Orange County was down 40%; San Bernardino County was down 26%; Ventura County was down 28%, and Santa Barbara County was down 64%.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar