San Diego house prices continued to climb in October, rising 11.6 percent – the highest in more than six years.
Prices in America’s best city rose the third fastest in the country annually, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices reported on Tuesday. Only Phoenix, with 12.7 percent, and Seattle with 11.7 percent, had greater gains.
Prices, which last rose so rapidly in the metropolitan area of San Diego, were 12.4 percent in May 2014. However, this is nothing compared to the boom times in housing when prices rose 33.37 percent in a year in July 2004 has not risen (just over 26 per cent four years later).
San Diego was not an isolated case in October. Significant house price increases have been reported across the country. Prices nationwide rose 8.4 percent and all 19 metro areas in the index rose faster than the same time last year.
“The path of house prices in recent months has been nothing short of remarkable,” wrote Zillow economist Matthew Speakman. “In many places across the country, and in the country in general, house prices are rising, by some standards, at their fastest pace in decades.”
He said price increases were due to low mortgage rates, millennial aging in home ownership and limited household inventory that all worked together to raise prices. Speakman said the same factors are likely to keep upward pressure on prices until 2021.
The cities on the index that performed the worst further doubled the inflation rate. New York had the lowest rise, 6 percent, followed by Chicago with 6.3 percent. Detroit has been off the list since March due to delays related to pandemic at the survey office.
Other cities in California made significant profits, but they were less than San Diego. Los Angeles rose 8.4 percent in a year and San Francisco 7.7 percent.
The Case-Shiller indices take into account repeated sales of identical single-family homes as they turn over the years. Prices are seasonally adjusted. The average San Diego County house price for a single-family home resale in October was $ 730,000, according to CoreLogic data provided by DQNews.
CoreLogic’s deputy chief economist, Selma Hepp, wrote that possible bumps in the housing market could be eliminated in 2021 with the COVID-19 relief programs from legislators. She cited the expansion of eviction moratoriums to help tenants and efforts to prevent negativity that will help existing homeowners stay in their homes.
“Collectively, recent stimulus actions are likely to help housing market demand and ensure continued growth in house prices,” she wrote.
San Diego’s household is still low as potential sellers await the pandemic before being listed. Looking back over the longer term, a history of slow house construction has meant that fewer new homes are available.
There were 5,089 homes offered for sale in San Diego County from Oct. 5 to Nov. 1 in October, the Redfin Data Center said. This compares with 7,604 in the same period in 2019, 9,427 in 2018 and 7,028 in 2017.
There were 8,053 homes built in San Diego County in 2019, the Southern California Real Estate Research Council said. Early signs show that the province is on track to build even more homes this year, but that does not compare to the days for housing boom. 17,306 homes were built in 2004, more than double what was produced last year.
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S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indexes
Annual increase per metropolitan area
Phoenix: 12.7 percent
Seattle: 11.7 percent
San Diego: 11.6 percent
Cleveland: 9.5 percent
Boston: 9.4 percent
Portland: 8.9 percent
Charlotte: 8.6 percent
Tampa: 8.6 percent
Los Angeles: 8.4 percent
Washington, DC: 8.2 percent
Minneapolis: 7.8 percent
San Francisco: 7.7 percent
Denver: 7 percent
Atlanta: 6.8 percent
Miami: 6.8 percent
Dallas: 6.5 percent
Las Vegas: 6.4 percent
Chicago: 6.3 percent
New York: 6 percent
Detroit: NVT
Nationwide: 8.4 percent