San Diego Real Estate Prices Down as Sales Soar

In San Diego prices have dropped an average of 34.6 percent due to lower-priced foreclosures and sales have increased over 40% in January accroding to DataQuick.

The overall median for real estate in San Diego county area stood at around $278,000, down from the year-ago level of $425,000. As previously reported, San Diego County’s median was $300,000, off 30.2 percent from $430,000 in December 2007.

An increase in sales in San Diego totaled 3,325, up 34.7 percent from December 2007.

In a continuation of trends noted for some months in San Diego, homes foreclosed in the previous 12 months represented a record 55.7 percent of the resale market in December, up from 54.7 percent in November and 24.3 percent in December 2007.

For San Diego, foreclosure sales declined as a proportion of resales, going from 52 percent in November to 50.4 percent in December.

For San Diego, new new-housing maket was also a record low December for new homes with only 321 units sold, down from 873 in 2007 and the all-time peak of 1,769 in 1988. Since that year, 11 Decembers have had sales counts exceeding 1,000 and 10 have had less.

“The builders are in a holding pattern, staying alive until the market recovers,” DataQuick President John Walsh said.

Besides low prices, low interest rates apparently are fueling sales. The most recent Freddie Mac mortgage interest rate survey showed that the average for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan was 4.96 percent with 0.7 percent in points.

Consequently, DataQuick found, the typical monthly mortgage payment on homes sold regionwide in December was $1,239, down from $1,380 in November and $2,060 in December 2007. After adjusting for inflation, current payments were 54 percent below the peak at the height of the real estate boom in July 2007.

Not only are buyers benefiting but current owners also have awakened to the new lending environment, if they have enough equity to qualify to refinance their mortgages