Applications for 27,000 units raise prospect of housing boom

From today's San Francisco Business Times,

Developers in San Francisco filed applications last year for the most residential units in recent history, setting the stage for a potential housing boom in coming years.

Home builders filed applications for planning permission or building permits for more than 6,600 new units last year, up 25 percent from 2004. City officials said a total of 27,493 new housing units are now in the planning stages or under construction.

It's too early to say how many of the housing units in the city's planning pipeline will get built. Only 17 percent of projects are under construction. But some developers said they expect strong market demand to continue, raising the prospect that most of the new units will be constructed.

"I believe 75 percent of the projects will be built in the next 10 years," said Chris Foley, a partner at Polaris Group, which scouts sites for new condominium projects and then sells the units.

The three neighborhoods with the largest number of units are Rincon Hill with 3,600, mid-Market with 2,400 and Showplace Square and Potrero Hill with 2,385.

A recent study by the city's planning department on proposed projects did not include data on how many are expected to be sold to low-income buyers. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who began pushing a new housing plan last year, said he wants 36 percent of new units to be affordable to poor families. Newsom's housing plan calls for building 15,000 housing units over five years.

I have no doubt that the planning department will be looking both to create affordable housing out of these 27,000+ units, as well as create larger, 2+ bedroom family housing. Let's hope that plays out positively.