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California new construction report — Q1 2026

The bottom line

California's residential permit volume is up 10% quarter-on-quarter — a strong signal of demand acceleration. Trade contractors and suppliers serving this state should expect builder accounts to scale upward in the next 12 months. The state's top markets are visibly heating up.

Top movers this quarter

The California counties with the biggest quarter-on-quarter permit-volume change. Click any county for the full local market dashboard.

1. Los Angeles County: 2,921 permits this quarter (+341 vs 2,580 prior quarter).
2. San Bernardino County: 956 permits this quarter (+273 vs 683 prior quarter).
3. Fresno County: 379 permits this quarter (-249 vs 628 prior quarter).
4. Stanislaus County: 357 permits this quarter (+144 vs 213 prior quarter).
5. Yolo County: 215 permits this quarter (+109 vs 106 prior quarter).
6. Placer County: 509 permits this quarter (-101 vs 610 prior quarter).

Most-active builders

Licensed home builders in California ranked by Q1 2026 permit count. Click any name for the builder's full profile, permit history, and county footprint.

Per-permit builder attribution for California is limited this quarter. Per-permit feeds outside Florida are added quarterly — California will deepen as we add county portals.

What this means for trade operators

If you're an LBM operator, roofing contractor, HVAC company, plumber, concrete crew, or any trade serving California's new single-family construction market, this quarter's data points to a few practical actions:

• If you're not actively quoting the top 6 builders listed above, that's the call list for this week.
• If your service area covers any of the top-mover counties, you have leverage right now — builders there are scaling and looking for capacity.
• If you're considering expansion into California, the California dashboard has all high-volume counties scored against the trade you select. Drive-time analysis from your existing yard tells you which counties are reachable today.

This report is automatically refreshed every quarter from Census Bureau Building Permits Survey data plus county public records. The methodology is documented in our Census BPS data explainer.