May is shaping up as the biggest month in at least two decades for new home starts in Manteca.
Builders have submitted applications to start 90 homes in May. That comes after they ended April with 77 new home starts.
That means for the first four months Manteca has seen 252 single family homes start construction. If that pace holds Manteca will end 2021 with 756 single family home starts. That excludes apartment units, duplexes, or auxiliary dwelling units.
Based on Manteca’s average yield rate of 3.2 people for all housing units whether they are single family homes or apartments that means new single family homes alone could increase the city’s population by 2,419 people this year. If that happens, Manteca will top 90,000 residents in early 2022.
Permits currently in the review process include master plans for dwellings by DR Horton and Atherton Homes. Master plans, once they are approved, are used as templates for approving specific home construction permits to streamline the approval process.
Those master home plans are for two projects where site work is underway but they are not to the point yet to sell and build on lots.
Atherton is part of the builders in the 1,301-home Griffin Park development south of Woodward Avenue and west of South Main Street.
DR Horton is building 154 homes as part of the North Main Commons on 30.17 acres on North Main Street across from Casino Real.
Also in the review process for May is an auxiliary dwelling unit and four duplexes to create eight additional units. Those 10 units will help meet the huge market demand for more attainable housing for those with decent paying Manteca or Northern San Joaquin Valley jobs that can’t compete for at-market housing that is aimed at the buying power of most Bay Area paychecks.
In addition to the 77 single family homes started in April, permits were granted for two auxiliary dwelling units or so called granny flats that are built on lots with existing homes. Once the ADU now in review is approved, that will bring the total of ADUs for the year to five. That’s the same number built last year.
644 new single family
homes started in 2020
Manteca ended 2020 issuing 644 permits for new single family homes. That was the fifth largest annual number of housing starts going back at least 35 years.
In the past five years Manteca has built or started 3,183 new homes or an average of 636 houses a year.
That is less that the five-year period from 2000 to 2004 when 3,887 new homes were built including 2000 when a record 1,075 new homes were built. The annual average for the five years was 777 homes a year.
Keep in mind none of the numbers in this story include apartment units or other multi-family housing types that were built. If you added apartment units, the number of dwelling units built or started from 2016 to 2020 would total 3,690 and from 2000 to 2004 it would total 4,185.
Overall, private sector building activity in 2020 had a construction value of $336.7 million. It was the second highest year on record. Topping the list is 2019 at $444 million. Third is 2018 with $314.7 million.
That means in three years Manteca has seen $1.09 billion in new construction excluding public works projects such as the Union Road interchange and Manteca Unified campus upgrades.
Manteca had just under $1.25 billion in new construction during the first decade of this century.
Much of the past three years has been powered by massive distribution center style buildings as well as the 500-room Great Wolf project. At $180 million, the indoor water park resort is the most expensive construction investment in the city’s history.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
