San Diego California Home Prices … Worst is Over
San Diego – Strongest Hosing Market in the Nation
San Diego home prices are on the rise, but, does this mean that the worst is over for the San Diego real estate market? Personally, I believe the governement tax credits( which may be mostly speeding up sales that would have occurred normally) and the fact that there is a huge number of loans due to have their first adjustment this year, could cause a double dip in San Diego housing values.
Year-over-year, the index for San Diego was up 7.6 percent.
San Diego was one of the first metropolitan areas where house prices started to tumble, and now is the only metropolitan area in the nation to show increased home prices between January and February.
Nationally, the S&P index was down .9 percent between January and February, but up .6 percent from the same period last year. Read more 
San Diego Real Estate Owning vs. Renting – A Real World Look
The conventional wisdom used to be: Buying a home and living in it is not an investment, but it sure beats renting and dumping money month after month with no return of any sort. Purchased property pays for itself by saving money that you don’t have to pay for rent. In 20-30 years time you own that home whereas you still need to pay rent if you are renting it. Read more
San Diego Real Estate Sales Uptick
San Diego home sales
In a report issued by MDA DataQuick, July San Diego home sales were up by 11% from the same period a year ago. This should come as no surprise as many first-time buyers have been enticed by an $8,000 federal tax credit, interest rates around 5% and a California new-home buyer’s credit. The San Diego median home price was$320,000, up from $280,000 in January.
The best summation of the San Diego housing market was a statement by Andrew LePage, a MDA DataQuick analyst: “Overall, prices still appear soft, they’re not plunging anymore, but I also don’t see them climbing consistently month over month in most areas. When they climb, it’s pretty minor. They’re flat, at best, in most cases.”
The first time, lower end properties are generating the most interest. It is quite common to see multiple offers and properties selling for at, or over, the listed price in the first time buyer market segment. The majority of the offers are FHA with 3.5% down.
San Diego real estate agents
San Diego Property Tax Assessements Drop $9+Billion
San Diego
San Diego county Assessor/Recorder/Clerk David Butler issued a report showing the assessed value of all taxable property in San Diego County decreased 2.3 percent, or $9.46 billion, in 2008.
Butler believes the decrease in total assessed value reflects the continued decline in residential property values and a slowdown in commercial sales and new construction.
The largest downturns in residential market were in Chula Vista, Lemon Grove, Escondido, San Marcos and Oceanside. Increases in assessed values were seen only in Del Mar, Coronado, Solana Beach, Poway and Encinitas.
San Diego home values
San Diego real estate – Will Home Values Rebound?
The main fact that will keep a cap on home appreciation in San Diego and California is that the severity of our housing bust has clearly broken the myth that San Diego and/or California homes could never really drop. Once San Diego housing does bottom, it may be many years before we see any measurable, sustained housing appreciation.
San Diego and California are now experiencing rising unemployment and huge deficits, which have caused higher taxes, increased fees and cuts in services. This is not a conducive climate for home appreciation. Also once we bottom, there is the very real possibility that the Obama administration will push for a sliding scale of allowed tax and mortgage interest tax write-offs.
San Diego Home Values … Good News, But Still Declining
San Diego home values seem to have slowed their rate of decline. From December to January San Diego homes saw a 2.6% decline according to Case-Shiller/Standard & Poor's most recent data. Yet, the San Diego home value drop from January to February was only 1%!
Bob Toll stated recently that, other than in the worst four markets in the country (Southern Cal, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Florida) they are seeing a firming of the housing market and expect an upswing in activity (and prices) sometime over the summer months. He said that inventories have largely been absorbed in most markets. He said the four afore mentioned locals have a ways to go before stabilization due to their large excess inventories of housing stocks.
Keep in mind, if you reduce housing prices 30% and reduce interest rates from 7% to 5%, you have just reduced the payment level on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage by 45% – what wasn't affordable suddenly become quite affordable.
That's the good news, the flip side, is that for the year San Diego home values fell 22.9%
There are still billions of dollars worth of 'liars loan' alt-a mortgages that have yet to reset and will perform even worse than subprime. You cannot even begin to think of a bottom when we have yet to pass the bulk of these alt-a resets.
Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of units of shadow inventory owned by banks but yet to be put up for sale.
What about declining incomes and employment levels.
It's going to be hard for a bottom in housing to come without a bottom in job numbers and an increase in wages.
Anyone who points to the latest Case-Shiller data as an indication of a housing turnaround is really grasping at straws.
We are merely at the normal "Spring" inflection point. As soon as the normal selling season hype wears off (probably by July) housing prices may resume their crushing descent downward. Housing is an incredibly slow-moving asset class, so don't worry that you will miss the bottom (it may well be 1 – 2 years off).