Census: California has second highest housing increase nationwide

The AP reports:

More new housing units were built in California last year than in all but one other state, according to new census data.

Nearly 182,000 new dwellings were added in the state from July 2004 to July 2005, the data shows. Florida had the most new homes and Texas was ranked third.

Robert Bernstein, a spokesman for the U.S. Census Bureau, said the data reflects a migration toward warmer southern and western states.

About 500,000 new residents move to California each year, with half landing in Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire and San Diego County, said Mary Heim, chief of the demographic research unit of the state Department of Finance.

Those regions are also where most of the new homes are built.

Riverside County ranked fourth among counties nationwide in the number of new dwellings, with 29,689 new housing units added in the reported period. Los Angeles County was sixth, with 19,950; San Bernardino County was eighth, with 17,032; and San Diego County was 12th, with 13,964, the Census Bureau reported.

Let supply meet demand.