San Diego hit an all-time high for median home price this month though sales slowed over the first half of 2019, according to a recent housing analysis.
The median home price in San Diego county in June hit a record of $590,000, according to the housing analysis hub CoreLogic.
The figure wasn’t a surprise to San Diego realtor Mark Powell.
"As long as we have limited inventory and a stranglehold on building market-rate or affordable housing, home prices are going to go up in San Diego. It’s a simple supply and demand formula,” he said.
Take Lisa Mead for example. When Mead bought her Clairemont house in 2009, Zillow said the price was about $366,000.
But with high school and college on the horizon for her two boys -- and Zillow estimating the house could now go for almost double that -- for her, it’s time to sell her investment property.
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“The economy’s good right now, we don’t know how long that’s going to last. So good economy, low interest rates, and the right time for our family, it seems like a good match,” Mead explained.
But record prices have not meant record sales.
When you compare the first six months of 2018 to the first six months of 2019, San Diego County home sales actually went down 7.6 percent, according to CoreLogic.
The company said the decrease is a sign that home buyers are either worried about buying near a possible price peak or are simply still priced out of Southern California.
“Home prices in the last decade have doubled in some areas, salaries haven’t doubled. So how can you expect a person who’s making 10 percent more than they made a decade ago to afford a house that’s now 50 percent more?” asked Powell.
But are we nearing a peak price point? Powell says you’d need a crystal ball to know.
“Obviously there’s a ceiling for everything, there’s going to be a limit on how high home prices can go in San Diego,” he said, adding San Diego property prices will always go up in the long term.
But for Mead, her advice to other sellers is listen to what makes sense for your family.
“If it’s right for you right now, that trumps everything,” she said.
