LOS ANGELES — California revenues came in $85 million below estimates in November, but were ahead by $588 million on the $40.5 billion year-to-date forecast, according to the California Department of Finance.
Both personal income tax revenues and sales use tax receipts came in below expectations for the month, though corporation tax revenues came in ahead of projections.
Personal income tax revenues were $86 million below the month’s forecast of $4.9 billion. Sales and use tax receipts came in $48 million below the month’s forecast of $2 billion. Corporation tax revenues came in $88 million above projects, which were expected to be a negative $108 million.
Other economic indicators were positive.
California real gross domestic product rose by 2.1% in second quarter, compared to only 0.6% growth in first quarter. U.S. real GDP rose 3.1% in the second quarter.
California’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell by 0.2% to 4.9% in October. While this rate equaled the pre-recession low from March to December 2006, it remained 0.2% higher than the 4.7% in May and June of this year, according to the Department of FInance report.
California housing permits jumped to their highest level since March 2007 with 141,000 permits issued in October 2017 on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis. Multifamily housing permits led the gains, rising 127 percent to 79,000 units, while single-family housing permits rose 4.9 percent to 62,000 units. Through the first ten months of 2017, California housing permits averaged 112,000 units, 11.4 percent above last year’s year average.
