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County home prices continue slow climb…”Bull’ish” sales for the Fall Season?
Posted by Kathi Kostoff | Leave A Comment »
July sales up 11% from a year earlier
Everyone ask me “How is the San Diego Real Estate Market doing?” Encouraging?
Please read the article as reported by: Union-Tribune Staff Writer, Roger Showley on August 18, 2009.
San Diego County home prices continued their cautious comeback last month, clocking in at a median of $320,000, up from the recession’s low of $280,000 in January.
Sales passed the 3,800 mark for the first time in three years, indicating buyers are increasingly motivated to grab bargains while they last. The number of sales last month marked an 11 percent increase from a year earlier.
But analysts caution that while the market may have reached bottom, they do not expect a return to rapid appreciation anytime soon.
“Overall, prices still appear soft,” MDA DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage said. “They’re not plunging anymore, but I also don’t see them climbing consistently month over month in most areas. When they climb, it’s pretty minor. They’re flat, at best, in most cases.”
A big reason the median is rising is that a larger share of transactions involve move-up homes priced above $500,000, LePage said. That price range represented 27.9 percent of sales last month, up from a recent low of 17.5 percent in January.
Meanwhile, the share of resale homes sold that had gone through foreclosure in the previous 12 months dipped to 37.4 percent, compared with the January peak of 55 percent.
An indication that prices remain largely flat is the price per square foot. For example, in the North County coastal zone, after subtracting Oceanside, the price per square foot has remained at $312 for the past few months.
Longtime real estate executives said move-ups are not strong when compared with the demand for lower-cost, first-time properties.
“There’s such a flurry of first-time, renter buyers and investors coming back in,” said Stephen Rodgers, president and owner of Exclusive Properties. “We’re seeing an immense number of multiple offers, 60 to 70 offers on one property, but more an average of five to 12. The great challenge right now in the marketplace is there’s just no inventory.”
Related Posts: Area Information, Area Statistics, Market Trends, San Diego
