(Photo courtesy of KTGY Architecture + Planning)

The number of residential units built last year in the Bay Area decreased 30 percent compared with the year before, according to a building industry group.

Nearly 10,000 fewer units were built in 2019, compared with 2018, according to preliminary data from the Construction Industry Research Board, which is an affiliate of the California Homebuilding Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to advance the home building industry. 

The steepest decline was In Santa Clara County, where 3,333 fewer units were built.

Here’s how the counties rank by the number of units built in 2019.1. Alameda County — 5,9522. Santa Clara County — 5,0203. San Francisco — 3,3434. Contra Costa County — 2,8015. Sonoma County — 2,7786. San Mateo County — 1,5507. Solano County — 1,1908. Napa County — 2219. Marin County — 216Statewide, construction of residential units was down 7 percent to 8 percent, said Dan Dunmoyer, president and CEO of the California Building Industry Association.

It’s the first year the numbers have been down statewide since the Great Recession, Dunmoyer said. 

Source: Construction Industry Research Board, California Building Industry Association

Keith Burbank is currently a fulltime reporter covering Alameda County and Oakland news for Bay City News. He has also worked on the Data Points project for Local News Matters, finding trends and stories about the region through data. In 2019, he was a California Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, producing a series about homeless deaths in Santa Clara County. He worked as a swing shift editor for the newswire for several years as well. Outside of journalism, Keith enjoys computer programming, math, economics and music.