The first nine months proved lacking for San Diego County’s residential building permits. As reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune, permits for single-family homes, apartments, and condos are down for the first nine months of 2017 by 18 percent, as reported by the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California.

Real estate analysts and president of MarketPointe Realty Advisors Russ Valone said that land costs are part of the problem which, coupled with the slowdown of rent increases for high-end apartments, is causing lenders to be wary of new projects. “As those newer projects’ rents push into the mid-$2,000 a month range, we started to see a slowdown in the rate of increases,” he told SDUT. “I think you may have some lenders looking at the slowed increases, and starting to take a cautious view of the marketplace.”

Orange County had the slowest building production over the same timeframe with a 21 percent reduction. The rest of Southern California counties had an increase in building during the same time period. Valone noted that the data may be off, as many permits for condo and large apartment projects had been nullified at the close of 2016.

Still, more housing is expected next year in Southern California. The UCLA Business Forecasting projected a 7.3 percent increase, the California Association of Realtors predicted 7.5 percent, and the California Department of Finance predicted 9.3 percent.