The Sluggish Housing Market Continues in San Diego

• Neighborhoods and News
• government shutdown, Linda Moore, median salce price November 2013, Mortgage rates rise in 2013, November 2013 market numbers, October 2013 market numbers, Slow market 2013
• December 17, 2013

You guessed it. The market for buying homes remains the same as fewer there is fewer real estate in San Diego that people are buying. Although the sales are in a lethargic state, the median price has still increased just a tad according to the San Diego Union-Times.

November displayed that median priced homes in the county was sold at $415,000. This is a rise in price compared to October which showed a $412,750 according to DataQuick. From the year over year, the price is still up 15.9 percent.

The government shutdown on the first 15 days of October according to some experts is thought to have sidetracked sales.

“November sales were pretty underwhelming,” said DataQuick president John Walsh wrote in a statement printed in the San Diego Union Times. “The exact causer is tough to pinpoint, but we see likely culprits: The inventory of homes for sale still falls short of demand.”

Although according to the calculations of Mark Goldman, a loan officer and a professor at San Diego State University – this was expected, and he feels that the usual levels of the market will return to normal.

Transactions for homes between October and November were at 3,018 – which is a plummet of almost 500 buys. This drop clocks in at a 14 percent, while in October in November in 2012 only had a seven percent drop.

“I always say when people get their Christmas trees up, the market comes to a halt,” Goldman said to the San Diego Union-Times. “That’s not a time when people are thinking ‘let’s move.’ There’s still activity out there, but there’s a lot more motivation to focus on where we are at this time, put everything else on pause.”

While the median price rose, so did mortgage rates, making the affordability more difficult. According to the Freddie Mac Reports, the average 30-year-fixed climbed to 4.35 in November, which is a smidgen higher than October which registered 4.28. Right now the rate is at 4.46 percent.

IN San Diego County alone, there were 6,848 listings in November, which is much higher than last year’s 5,085 posted in the same month period.  

By Linda Moore