San Diego California Home Prices Increase
San Diego home sales
San Diego California home prices rose last month, for the eighth month in a row, as buyers took advantage of tax credits and low mortgage rates. MDA DataQuick reported that the May median price stood at $340,000, up 4.5 percent from April and up 15.3 percent from a year ago.
The combination of tax incentives and low mortgage rates helped stoke sales in mid- to high-end areas, where distress has increased over the last year and sellers have become more motivated and realistic.
For the southern California region, foreclosure resales accounted for 33.9% of the resale market last month, down from 36.4% in April and 49.8% a year earlier. The all-time high for foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – was 56.7% in February 2009.
The important thing to remember, though, is that what we saw in May was partly driven by government stimulus. This is akin to the government ‘cash for clunkers’ program. I believe a good part of the price up-tick was just creating artificial ‘demand’ by pulling sales that would have normally occurred during the Spring/Summer into closing prior to April 30, to qualify for the tax credits.
So, more accurate San Diego home price information will not be reflected until July prices are released sometime in August. I have a property I put into escrow for a client prior to April 30th to qualify for the tax credit; it’s due to close June 24th. This sale, when reflected in the statistics for June sales, will still be a result of the government tax credits.
Currently, sales activity seems to have slowed down. Considering this is the most favorable real estate marketing time, unless this trend reverses, the second half of the year could not only reflect a slow-down but the very real possibility of a double-dip in San Diego real estate prices.
Los Angeles real estate
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this whole thing about housing prices increasing lately has me nervous. I don’t believe that things have turned around yet, not for a second. I think it’s going to take a lot longer and all this is doing is lulling us into a false sense of security. the tax credits are just blurring our vision.
San Diego home prices – When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service? Many thanks!