SAN DIEGO -- San Diego County home builders requested the fewest number of permits on record during the first quarter of the year, it was reported Thursday.

Permits to build 926 units were pulled between January and March, down 63.6 percent from the same period last year, The North County Times reported.

Within the first quarter, March was the worse month, with permits for 193 units being pulled, according to the Times, which based its report on data complied by the nonprofit Burbank-based Construction Industry Research Board.

The board has been compiling data on home building permits since 1988 and has never before recorded a number so low for the first quarter, the Times reported.

The number of permits pulled to build multifamily housing was especially low in March, with only eight of the 193 permits pulled being for multifamily housing, the Times reported.

Mark Connal, sales director for Escondido-based builder Michael Crews Development, told the Times the news is shocking but not really surprising.