More Than 21,000 Units Planned or Approved in Ventura County

New-home sales and construction in Ventura County have been at rock-bottom levels for the past several years, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, a respected economic forecaster said yesterday.

Mark Schniepp, head of the California Economic Forecast, told attendees at the 10th annual Ventura County Housing Conference that there were 21,674 homes, condos and apartments either approved or in the approval pipeline countywide.

Almost half of those units are planned for Oxnard, which has about 9,500 homes and multifamily units in the pipeline. Second is Ventura, with about 3,150 units approved or pending. The third-highest amount is in Moorpark, with about 2,375 units pending and fourth is Santa Paula with almost 1,800.

Schniepp does not expect housing construction in the county to really accelerate until 2013, but said a couple of major projects are likely to get under way in 2012.

The one thing all the projects have in common: their developers expect to begin construction on apartments first and single-family homes and condos down the line.

One of the biggest projects likely to break ground next year is Limoneira's East Area 1 development in Santa Paula. The company expects final governmental approval by next May, and hopes to begin grading in May or June. Eventually 1,500 housing units are planned for the area east of Santa Paula Creek.

Parklands, a 499-unit project in East Ventura, may get under way next year as well.

Schniepp said a number of approved projects around the county are either building one or two homes at a time as demand warrants or are on hold altogether. These projects include the Village in Oxnard, the Bridges in Fillmore, and Runkle Ranch in Simi Valley.

Down the line, several large projects are in the planning stages. The five biggest are SouthShore in Oxnard (1,545 units), Springfield in Camarillo (1,384), Teal Club and Sakioka Farms in Oxnard (1,100 and 900 respectively) and Hitch Ranch in Moorpark (755). Developers see these projects beginning to come on line in 2014 at the earliest.

Schniepp said apartments are in high demand in large part because of demographics. There are currently 5.7 million Californians between 20 and 29, which is the age when most people establish their own households. That formation has been delayed in many cases due to the recession but eventually will take place, he added.

Most of the homes in the pipeline should be built by 2020.

The Ventura County Star's Stephanie Hoops covered a lunchtime panel discussion. You can read her article here.