Recent news is that nationally the housing market is cooling off. That’s true in the North County and San Diego real estate markets, but they are still very strong. Homes continue to sell quickly and often over their asking prices, but not to the extent they were earlier this year.

Although year-over activity slowed down in December in the San Diego real estate market as a whole, North County stayed busy through the holidays. The recent trend of stay-at-home workers moving to the suburbs may be the cause.

Even though there was some holiday slowdown, all San Diego markets saw strong price increases, shrinking inventory and shorter market times in December. CoreLogic expects this trend to continue and affordability to drop due to the large number of new households being created by Gen Xers and Millennials. And realtor.com ranks the San Diego County market at number 18 of its “100 Top Housing Markets of 2021.”

North County and San Diego Real Estate January 2021

Year-over prices were up 14.7 percent countywide and 17.4 percent in North County. Inventory dropped significantly, and market times were over 40 percent shorter. San Diego County saw fewer pending and closed sales in December, while North County showed increases in both compared to the previous year.

See below for this month’s statistics and daily interest rate updates.

We are continuing to see tight inventory and short market times in North County and San Diego real estate markets this July. Bidding wars are commonplace. But experts predict a slowing market in months to come. CoreLogic’s Home Price Insights report forecasts a year-over decline of 6.6 percent in home prices nationally. Though in San Diego, they estimate that drop to only be 1.3 percent.

Although prices are expected to soften slightly, it’s doubtful we will see many foreclosures due to COVID-19. This market is very different than it was during the Great Recession. Inventory is scarce. Homeowners have equity, and mortgage delinquency rates in San Diego County are very low compared to the rest of the country. The San Diego Union Tribune recently published a good explanation of why large numbers of foreclosures are probably not in our future.

North County and San Diego Real Estate July 2020

Of all the markets within the county, North County is the only one that saw a year-over decrease in prices with the median sales price dropping 2.5 percent. Countywide, year-over prices were up 2.4 percent. Inventory dropped by almost 50 percent in both markets, and pending sales were up over 20 percent compared to the previous year.

See below for this month’s statistics and daily interest rate updates.