Cost of Average New Home Up $90,000 in North County
Spurred by the rapid increase in the cost of subdivision lots, the average price of a new single-family house in North County has increased by nearly $90,000, or 51%, over the past year to $261,000. The study by Market Profiles of San Diego compared average subdivision sale prices over the first quarter of 1989 with the same three months last year.
Over the same period, the average price of a new house in southern San Diego County was $234,800, an increase of $54,000, or 30%, over the same quarter the previous year, according to Market Profiles. The study used California 52 as the dividing line for the two regions.
Similar price increases were logged by Meyers Group, a La Jolla-based market research firm that also tracks subdivision sales. Meyers reported that first-quarter median sales price of new homes, countywide, was $227,990, a 46% increase over the $154,990 median price during the same three months last year.
Median prices are those at which half of all houses sell for more and half for less.
Lot prices are being squeezed by the declining supply of developable land in San Diego County and by the increasingly restrictive zoning policies governing the land that is available, several industry sources said.
A typical undeveloped, 5,000-square-foot lot in the so-called California 163 corridor from Rancho Bernardo south to Tierrasanta now sells for $100,000 to $120,000, up from $60,000 to $70,000 a year ago, said Bill Fontana, a partner in Westana Builders/Developers, a San Diego home builder.
The high prices of new housing reflect the fact that most new units being built these days are geared to the so-called “move-up” buyer market: that is, buyers who are selling smaller and cheaper houses and using the equity they have built up to buy larger and more expensive abodes, Market Profiles president Russell Valone said.
Because of the high price of new housing, most first-time buyers are buying resold existing houses, which are showing less-dramatic price increases, Valone said. The average price of an existing house sold in metropolitan San Diego in February was $187,636, a 14% increase over the February, 1988, average price, the San Diego Board of Realtors said.
Reflecting the thinning inventory of available new housing, the actual number of new houses sold during the first quarter this year declined to 1,643 units, a 48% drop from the 3,138 units sold in first quarter of 1988. Sales in the souther part of the county totaled 858 units, down from the 913 sold last year.
Prices of new condominiums and townhouses have remained flat to down, Market profiles said. A typical North County condo sold for $136,800 over the first quarter, down from $140,500 last year, Valone said. South County condominiums’ average price increased to $126,000, up from last year’s average $117,600.
