Home builders in California, worried that sluggish construction numbers will deteriorate even more, cited fewer permits in September as evidence for continuing tax-credit incentives.

"Since the discontinuation of the popular ($10,000) home buyer tax credit, we have seen a significant drop in traffic these past few months," said Liz Snow, president of the California Building Industry Association.

The Senate has passed a proposed extension of the tax credit, which applied to buyers of new houses in California. "We hope the Assembly follows suit," she said.

Statewide, permits for single-family houses were off 2% from August and down 12% from September 2008. In Fresno County, they declined 21.6% month-to-month and were off 5% from a year earlier.

In Tulare County, permits fell 24.1% for the month and 28.4% for the year.

Extending the subsidy, which expired last summer, should allow the state to give tax credits to about 4,300 more buyers of new unoccupied homes