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San Diego prices and sales still declining
By Melissa Wirkus
As news is starting to trickle in that
the housing
market may be seeing a correction in
the near future, San Diego can’t
say the same.
The county that saw extreme growth during
the past few years is now seeing declines
in prices and sales that we have not
seen in a very long time.
An October 12, 2006 article by Roger
M. Showley of The San Diego Union Tribune,
“Home sales, prices still falling,”
looks at the slowdown that is engulfing
San
Diego County.
“San Diego County's housing market
extended its price and sales decline
last month, turning in figures not seen
for more than a decade that one prominent
economist called ‘rather ominous.’”
The county is not only seeing declines
in the amount of homes that are being
sold, but in the prices of homes as
well.
“DataQuick Information Systems
reported the median sales price in September
at $476,000, down $22,000 or 4.4 percent
from a year ago – the largest
year-over-year drop since 1993. Overall
sales tumbled 35 percent from year-ago
levels to 3,207 transactions, the biggest
year-over-year decline since 1991.”
When talking about the overall sales
of homes, this includes both the sales
of newly built homes
and the re-sale of homes that have already
been lived-in and probably sold before.
There is a glimmer of hope amongst all
of the discouraging figures; and that
is that a select few areas within San
Diego County actually saw positive numbers
in, which is some very encouraging news
considering our current state.
“Twenty-five of 96 ZIP codes turned
in year-over-year increases for resale
single-family homes, with several, including
the area around San Diego State University
and southern Escondido, up more than
10 percent.”
Ed Leamer, who is a noted economist
and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast,
was unpleasantly surprised with the
figures presented by DataQuick.
Because although there was some positive
news for a few San Diego areas, their
data still showed an 8.1 percent drop
in median housing prices since the peak
of $518,000 in November of last year.
“Leamer, who has been predicting
a real
estate slowdown for several years,
said he had expected prices nationally
to gain at a slow rate before leveling
out. Slight declines were expected for
some communities, including San Diego,
but not at the rate the figures show,
he said. ‘I think this is a rather
ominous number,’ he said. ‘The
news from San Diego isn't very good.’”
Most analysts agree that San Diego’s
housing market
will continue to see declines throughout
2007. Canceled building projects, more
foreclosures and decreased home values
are all signs that the market will continue
on its downward spiral.
If you have had your home for a few
years, you are probably going to experience
very minimal effects from the slow market,
so don’t worry, there is no need
to panic!