BETTER HURRY WITH THAT IMMIGRATION REFORM...:

With mortgage interest rates low and prices for existing homes rising, builders are coming back into the market. They're bidding up land prices, scrambling to find workers and building bigger, more expensive homes than they did just a few years ago.

The tents in Huntington Beach brought to mind last decade's housing boom, but the market has changed dramatically since then. Tens of thousands of Southland homeowners who would like to sell their homes still can't because they're underwater. That has created a dearth of inventory that's fueling bidding wars and camp-outs for a limited supply of dwellings.

The median home price for new homes sold in Southern California jumped 19% year-over-year to $401,000 in February, according to real estate firm DataQuick. Builders started construction on 2,097 new, single-family homes in Southern California during the fourth quarter of 2012 -- a 56% increase from the same quarter the previous year, according to research firm Metrostudy.

That sharp increase is perhaps not surprising, given that 2011 was the worst year on record for new construction. Still, the rapid turnaround may be one of the most meaningful developments for the broader economy; new home construction is a powerful driver of jobs and economic activity.

The building will create jobs not only in construction but in related industries including lumber, concrete, heating and air conditioning and more. The economic boost should be even stronger when builders complete once-dormant subdivisions and move on to virgin land.

"They are going to begin with the development of new land, and that is typically about a third of the cost or more of the overall house," said Gerd-Ulf Krueger, principal economist at HousingEcon.com. "That is going to have a pretty big impact on the housing economy."

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