The Construction Industry Research Board report found that permits for 240 multifamily units were issued in May, less than half the 581 permits issued during the same period a year ago. The dollar volume for the permits totaled $27.4 million, down sharply from the $98.2 million a year ago.

So far this year the county has issued permits for $279 million in multifamily constructioin, down 12.7% from the same time a year ago.

Office and retail permit activity was down in May as well, according to the report. Developers haven't been in a rush to pull permits for new product, with hundreds of thousands of square feet of sublease space on the market and hundreds of thousands more already in the construction pipeline.