Among the Top 10 U.S. metro housing markets in full year 2006 (according to number of residential building permits issued), only two cities recorded year-over-year percentage increases – Houston (+14.7%) and Los Angeles (+8.7%).

Houston’s increase, combined with Atlanta’s decrease (-6.3%), nudged Atlanta back into second place behind first-place Houston. New York, Dallas and Chicago were next in line in terms of total number of permits, although they all recorded year-over-year declines. The Los Angeles increase was entirely due to multiples (+42.1%), as single-family permits in the city declined (-19.4%). Among the top 50 U.S. metro housing markets in all of 2006 (based on preliminary data), only nine had a positive percent change. Almost half of the cities in the top 50 registered year-over-year percentage declines of greater than -20.0%.