S.D. County : Resale Cost of Houses Jumps 22.5%
The average price of a resold house in the metropolitan San Diego area was $207,478 in May, several thousand dollars less than the April record but a 22.5% one-year jump from the average $169,301 price logged in May, 1988.
The survey consists of sales brokered by members of the San Diego Board of Realtors, the group that accounts for about half the resales in the San Diego County.
According to the survey, the local housing market has remained active despite the upward trend in mortgage interest rates when most of the May sales were opening escrow six to eight weeks before closing. Mortgage rates have since moderated somewhat, leading some observers to think that San Diego’s housing market will remain active.
The total number of houses and condominiums sold in metropolitan San Diego in May was 1,441, up 9% from the 1,319 units sold over the same month a year previous. Total sales for the year to date are 7,421, up 21% from the 6,141 units sold over the same five months in 1988.
$175 Median Price
The May median sales price, or the price at which half of all sales were priced higher and the rest lower, was $175,000, up from the $148,000 median price in August 1988, the first month that the San Diego board began collecting median price numbers.
May’s average sale price was off considerably from the $217,802 record price set in April of this year.
New listings in May totaled 3,368, up 13% from the 2,970 new listings that members took on in May 1988, an indication of increased market activity. Houses that were sold in May were on the market an average 56 days, down from the average 72 days it took for houses to sell during the same month a year ago.
In a prepared statement, board president Chuck Hoffman said the double-digit May price increase demonstrates the strength of San Diego’s economy. But Hoffman said he expects housing prices to “stabilize” over the summer because of seasonal softness.
Surveys of new housing sold in subdivisions are usually done in San Diego by market research firms on a quarterly basis. The most recent survey by one such firm, Market Profiles of San Diego, for the three-month period ended March 31 showed that the average cost of a new single-family house in North County was $261,000, up by 50% over the same quarter a year previous. For South County, or the area south of California 52, average prices increased by 30% to $234,800.
Market Profiles President Russell Valone said the results for the quarter to end June 30 will be closely watched by the local housing industry because of “dangerously low” inventory levels of available new houses, a condition that usually leads to price increases.
