California built thousands of new housing units in 2021. These cities added the most

California added hundreds of thousands of new housing units in 2021, but only enough to produce a small uptick in overall housing growth, according to a new state Department of Finance report.

The Golden State built 112,886 single-family, multifamily and mobile homes during 2021, said Walter Schwarm, chief demographer for the Department of Finance. However, those units grew California’s overall housing stock by only 0.7% — a tiny increase for a state in desperate need of additional housing.

About 46% of those housing units were single-family homes, about 52% were multifamily units and about 2% were mobile homes, Schwarm said.

The state’s biggest cities built the most total housing, but communities recovering from wildfires and inland areas in the Central Valley and Southern California had the biggest jump in units year-over-year, the report said.

This reflects a statewide trend of residents moving away from pricey coastal areas and toward more affordable inland communities — especially those who began working remotely during the pandemic and no longer need to live near their offices, said Schwarm and H.D. Palmer, deputy director for the Department of Finance.

Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco built the most new housing, the report said. Those three cities also added the most multifamily housing units.

Bakersfield, Los Angeles and the Riverside County city of Menifee built the most single-family homes.

Paradise — the Butte County city destroyed by the Camp Fire in 2018 — experienced the most total housing growth in 2021. The city’s housing stock ballooned about 23% year-over-year, and it added the highest percentage of new single-family homes.

The San Joaquin County city of Lathrop grew its housing by 10%, and Greenfield in Monterey County added 9.7% more units.

Lathrop also built the second-highest percentage of single-family homes at about 11%, followed by Firebaugh in Fresno County with 6.25%.

The South Bay city of Atherton in San Mateo County grew its multifamily housing stock by 80%, the highest percentage of any city.

Another South Bay city, Los Altos Hills in Santa Clara County, added 44% more multifamily units, as did American Canyon in Napa County with 39%.

This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 5:00 AM.