Manteca in 2014 had its biggest year for single family housing starts in eight years.

There were 427 homes started last year compared to 297 in 2013. The last year for more than 427 housing starts was in 2006 when 549 new home permits were issued. Actually, 430 additional housing units were started in 2008 but only 240 were single family homes. The rest were from two apartment complex, Juniper Apartments on Atherton Drive and the subsidized senior complex on North Main Street behind Dribble’s Car Wash.

“We could very easily top 500 new homes this year,” noted Community Development Director Fredric Clark noted.

Almost all of the new construction except for Del Webb at Woodbridge and Union Ranch is taking place south of Woodward Avenue. As it stands now based on approved projects, the day will come when the 120 Bypass and Main Street will mark the center of Manteca’s urban development instead of Yosemite Avenue and Main Street since close to 80 percent of proposed homes would be in South Manteca.

 At the same time the average new home being built in Manteca is setting new standards for living space. For 2014 the average home built in Manteca was 3,194 square feet. That’s 71 square feet more than the record year for average size set in 2003. Average home sizes shrunk significantly after the recession started in 2006 as builders scrambled to serve a constricted market dominated by first-time buyers. The average home size dropped to 1,868 square feet in 2008 before starting to rebound.

During the McMansion era when 4,500-square-foot homes were built in large number, there were significantly more homes 2,600 square feet and under built that brought down the average home size.