Now leaving San Diego

San Diego County last year saw more people move out for other parts of California than move in, turning around an eight-year trend, analysts said. They blamed the county’s high housing prices.

The county’s population still grew by 1.4%, but largely because of births and immigration from outside the United States, according to figures released Monday by the state Department of Finance. As of July, the county’s population stood at 3,036,373.

Although San Diego’s net out-migration in 2004 was a modest 613, it was a sharp contrast to recent years, when 4,200 to 19,000 more people moved there from other parts of the United States than left.

Demographers said the out-migration is symptomatic of an overall flight from the state’s coastal areas to the inland counties, where housing is significantly more affordable.

In December, the average price of an existing single-family home in the county was $577,000, a jump of $111,000 from December 2003, according to the California Assn. of Realtors.

Briefly

* The average rate on 30- year fixed mortgages in the U.S fell to 5.57% last week from 5.63% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac. The 15-year fixed rate fell to 5.10% from 5.14%. The one-year adjustable rate fell to 4.11% from 4.23%.

* Sales of existing condominiums and cooperatives totaled a record 970,000 units nationally in 2004, marking the ninth consecutive annual high. The pace of sales, however, eased in the fourth quarter but remained the third-highest three-month period on record, according to the National Assn. of Realtors.

* U.S. mortgage applications rose in the week ended Feb. 4 for a second week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Assn. A decline in 30-year mortgage rates to their lowest level in almost a year spurred refinancing and home sales, it said.

From Times wire reports