San Diego was one of the busiest real estate markets in the country during the pandemic. Not anymore.
America’s prettiest city saw its annual price rise slow to 1.6 percent in December, according to the S&P Case-Shiller indices released Tuesday. This is down from the 30 percent rise recorded in March.
San Diego was among the top three markets with the highest appreciation in the 20-city index for nearly two years. It’s now in the bottom four, with Portland, up 1.1 percent in a year; Seattle, which is down 1.8 percent; and San Francisco, which is down 4.2 percent.
Miami was the first market, with prices that grew 15.9 percent in one year. It was followed by Tampa, up 13.9 percent, and Atlanta, up 10.4 percent.
CoreLogic chief economist Selma Hepp wrote that the West and the Mountainous West are seeing prices fall the fastest, but all markets are affected by rising interest rates.
“The rapid reversal of price growth is evident in all markets,” he wrote.
The interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage hit a low of 6.27 percent in December, according to Freddie Mac, up from a high of 7.08 percent in November. However, rates rose this week, around 6.78 percent on Tuesday morning, according to Mortgage News Daily.
Zillow Senior Economist Nicole Bachaud wrote that there was a surge of buyers in the market in January as rates fell, but the recent rate hike did not bode well for the market.
“As rates rise again in February,” he wrote, “any momentum in this market is likely to be short-lived and affordability challenges will continue to be key to the direction and speed at which the market moves in the coming months. ”.
The Case-Shiller indices lag several months, so the most recent sales data shows that San Diego County home prices have continued to decline. The indices track repeat sales of identical single-family homes — and are seasonally adjusted — as years go by. The resale price for a single-family home was $825,000 in December. In January, it was down to $820,000.
The markets that are appreciating the fastest are still less expensive than San Diego, according to the Redfin Data Center. The median sales price for a single family in December was $530,000 in Miami, $386,000 in Tampa and $450,000 and Atlanta.
However, the decline in prices across the country shows that all markets are more or less in the same boat. The 20-city S&P Case-Shiller Index showed home prices had risen 4.67 percent annually, down from the 21.2 percent peak hit in April.
San Diego has a long way to go to approach the price declines of the Great Recession. Prices were down 26.6 percent in one year in October 2008.
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S&P Case-Shiller Indices
Annual price growth by metropolitan area
Miami: 15.9 percent
Tampa: 13.9 percent
Atlanta: 10.4 percent
Charlotte: 9.9 percent
Dallas: 7.9 percent
New York: 6.6 percent
Cleveland: 6.0 percent
Chicago: 5.9 percent
Boston: 5.2 percent
Detroit: 4.5 percent
Washington, D.C.: 4.3 percent
Las Vegas: 3.6 percent
Denver: 3.5 percent
Minneapolis: 3.2 percent
Phoenix: 2.9 percent
Los Angeles: 2.7 percent
San Diego: 1.6 percent
Portland: 1.1 percent
Seattle: -1.8 percent
San Francisco: -4.2 percent
