A Lot More People, A Few More Houses

Washington State OFM will publish the April 1 population estimates on Thursday, June 30.  I project that they will report Clark County's population to be 461,800.  That would be an increase of 10,000 people.  The increase may turn out to be a bit greater.  To accommodate this increase we would need to build about 3900 housing units, including about 2700 single family homes.  Over the past couple of years we have built about 2000 units per year, including about 1500 single family homes.  During the year ending April 1, 2016 Real Estats, Inc. reported approximately 1400 new home sales.  The Census will probably report an increase of about 1600 or 1700 single family homes over that period of time.
April 1, 2015 to April 1, 2016
Projected Population Increase
10,000
Single Family Homes Needed
2700
New Homes Sold
1400
New Homes Created (Estimate)
1600
Annual SF Housing Deficit
(1100)

It appears that there now fewer homes per person in Clark County than at any time since 1999.

I will update Thursday with the actual reported population numbers.


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