The good news is that after two months of price declines, San Diego County home prices returned to climbing, although gradually, in October. The bad news is that sales volume was down considerably. Overall, Carlsbad Real Estate fared a little better. This is based on the MDA Dataquick numbers published last week. Graphs are from November 15 SignOnSanDiego “Prices up but sales down…” article.
The median San Diego County home rose to $334,500, a 1.2% increase from last month, and a 2.9% increase from October of 2009. The 2010 market’s current peak was $340K in May. The overall peak was $517,500 in November 2005. The overall low was $280K in January 2009.
There were 2,750 transactions in October, a 10.4% decrease from last month. This is typical with the beginning of the school year. What was unexpected though was the year over year drop of 25.1%. DataQuick analyst Andre LePage said this stemmed from a combination of a lousy economy, low consumer confidence and the aftermath of the expired tax credits. Many economists think the tax credits from earlier this year sped up buyers’ timelines but did not necessarily pull new buyers into the market. This in essence is robbing sales from the second half of the year.
How did Carlsbad Real Estate fare in October? 3 out of the 4 Carlsbad zip codes fared better than the county median in October, achieving year over year price increases of 5 – 6.8%. The volume of Carlsbad Real Estate dropped year over year, but only 8.6%, vs. 25% for the county.
San Diego County Median Home Prices
San Diego County Homes Sales Volume
On a potential upbeat note, LePage says “If prices drift lower over the winter and in the meantime the economy improves and consumer confidence rises, then we could see much improved sales in the spring, especially if there is ample inventory and rates are still super-low.” I am currently seeing a lot of activity in my Carlsbad Real Estate office so I view that as a good sign. It will be interesting to see how Carlsbad Real Estate does in November.