California communities are approving residential building permits at a slower rate than they did last year, a sign Gov. Gavin Newsom faces an even bigger hurdle to reach his housing goals than when he took office in January.

In the first five months of 2019, cities and counties issued permits for an average of 111,000 residential building units per year, according to data released Friday by the California Department of Finance.

That’s a decrease of 12.2 percent from the same period in 2018. — The Sacramento Bee

The economy is headed for a slowdown, but its effect on the housing market won’t be as tumultuous as the downturn that led to the Great Recession, Metrostudy chief economist Mark Boud told a standing room-only audience today at the 2019 Metrostudy Housing Outlook Breakfast.

Boud sees overinflated housing prices causing bubbles in some hot markets where affordability is a top issue. — Builder

While cities like Dallas and San Francisco have rebounded strongly since the recession, many other places are still struggling for economic growth and prosperity. As time goes on, we're seeing a divergence between successful parts of the country and the non-successful parts.

More than 50 million Americans live in "distressed" ZIP codes, according to a new report from the Economic Innovation Group, a Washington D.C. think-tank. — Fast.Co Exist

Today's Editor's Picks is a special themed "place based" edition - highlighting content (old/newish) from the archives/site - about Denver and Colorado. Partly as an apology for the brief/unexpected lull in the Picks. Also, inspired by my own recent relocation to The Mile High City. Just one part of an ongoing attempt to learn about my new home.

For some historic preservationists on the North Shore, the economic downturn in 2008 had a silver lining, bringing a lull in tear-downs and new-home construction that gave scores of vintage properties a reprieve from the wrecking ball.

But six years later, officials in north suburban Winnetka tasked with preserving historic homes say that reprieve has clearly ended. They report that demolition permits have nearly doubled, with 36 issued in 2013, up from 19 in 2009. — chicagotribune.com

It was billed as a chance to transform Greece's image abroad and boost growth but 10 years after the country hosted the world's greatest sporting extravaganza there is little to celebrate at the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games. [...]

For Greeks who swelled with pride at the time, the Games are now a source of anger as the country struggles through a six-year depression, record unemployment, homelessness and poverty.

Greece has struggled to generate revenue from the venues. — uk.reuters.com

Current market conditions for architecture and the near-term outlook for the construction industry in the US is a two-sided story, with forward-looking indicators showing steady improvement but serious concerns arising out of an impending ‘fiscal cliff’. — DesignBuild Source

Since the beginning of the recession in early 2008, architecture firms have collectively seen their revenue drop by 40 percent and have had to cut personnel by nearly a third. Despite a national recovery from the recession in 2009, construction activity continued to spiral downward, according to the recently release 2012 AIA Firm Survey — aia.org

I first visited Los Angeles in 1987 and the joint was then jumping for architects, as it was in many cities caught up in the building boom of that time. Then I moved from London to LA in 1991 and found all my new architect friends out of work, in the economic slump of the early 90s. The New York Times was running articles[...] that sounded remarkably similar to the Salon piece in their “it will never be the same again” declarations about the profession. — blogs.kcrw.com

One of the coolest creative-class careers has cratered with the economy. Where does architecture go from here? — salon.com

Skyscrapers have an 'unhealthy' link with impending financial collapse, according to banking experts. [...]

Researchers pointed to the fact the world's first skyscraper, New York's Equitable Life building, was finished in 1873 during a five-year recession, while the Empire State Building coincided with the Great Depression. — dailymail.co.uk

Experts in the building industry don’t expect the slump to end anytime soon—especially for the big marquee commissions for which Gehry is known. “The U.S. domestic market is not in the position right now to fund [major] projects in the private or public sector,” says Clark Manus, president at the American Institute of Architects and chief executive officer at San Francisco-based Heller Manus Architects. “This is the new normal.” — businessweek.com