Unlimited Density and Height

For those who saw the Carlsbad Train Redevelopment and wondered what other apartment houses (and affordable housing) are being built around town, check out this article:

https://www.kpbs.org/news/local/2022/04/14/in-san-diegos-quest-for-more-housing-unlimited-height-density-show-results

An excerpt:

Construction began this week at 901 West Washington St. in Mission Hills, where developer Soheil Nakhshab is building 54 studio apartments. He likens each unit’s design to a Swiss Army knife, with built-in tables and beds that fold up into the walls.

The project would not have been possible without Complete Communities, San Diego’s most aggressive attempt yet at encouraging high-density housing near public transit.

Approved by the City Council in November 2020, just one month before Mayor Kevin Faulconer and five councilmembers left office, Complete Communities allows developers to build apartments with unlimited density and height if they agree to set aside a much greater share of the homes as affordable housing than would otherwise be required.

The program is designed to withstand political and neighborhood opposition to individual projects, letting developers bypass the Planning Commission and City Council and get building permits directly from city staffers. The result has been swift approval of bigger projects with smaller, less-expensive homes.

Sites zoned for single-family homes are not eligible for Complete Communities, no matter how close they are to public transit.

Nakhshab said his project, which includes no off-street parking, would open up Mission Hills to more young professionals who don’t want the expense of car ownership and can’t afford the pricey single-family homes that dominate the neighborhood.

“What we’re trying to do is give them an opportunity to live in a prosperous, vibrant neighborhood with tons of public amenities at an affordable rate,” Nakhshab said.

NSDCC 1Q Listings & Sales

The drastic drop in inventory seems devastating, but check out the closed sales:

NSDCC Number of Listings & Sales, First Quarter

Year
NSDCC Total 1Q Listings
Median List Price
1Q Closings
Median Sales Price
2018
1,230
$1,592,500
569
$1,323,000
2019
1,277
$1,575,000
536
$1,290,000
2020
1,082
$1,712,500
572
$1,420,500
2021
985
$1,899,000
663
$1,800,000
2022
704
$2,595,000
504
$2,418,000

Last year was an exceptional frenzy with 663 sales in the first quarter, but look how this year compares to previous years. The 1Q sales in 2022 are fairly close to those in 2018-2020, in spite of fewer choices!

Inventory Watch

Part of the problem with trying to analyze any of the current data is that there is no precedent – any previous assumptions have little or no relevance to today’s market because of the lack of homes for sale.

We keep hoping there is going to be a surge of new listings , but it’s still not happening – we had more new pendings than new listings again this week. We would need a flood just to catch up with last year, which was less than half of what we had in the covid-affected era!

NSDCC Actives & Pendings, Mid-April:

Year
NSDCC Active Listings
NSDCC Pending Listings
2018
825
331
2019
925
341
2020
684
192
2021
335
358
2022
224
212

Plus, almost half of today’s 224 active listings are priced over $4,000,000!

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(more…)

Least Likely To Sell

There is some some discussion among the talking heads that a moderating frenzy could cause more sellers to come to market in hopes of getting out while they can.  They may be right in areas where inventory is already exploding.

But not in San Diego, where last month the new listings dropped more than anywhere else.

As the selling season opens up, it is normal for the inventory to rise, and below you can see that sexy destinations like Austin, Denver, Nashville, etc. experienced large increases between February and March.

But not in San Diego, where in March the active inventory month-over-month went DOWN!

No surprise that San Diego is the place where people are least-likely to leave!

NSDCC March Sales & Pricing

What a wild ride lately! It’s safe to say we’ll never see a March like this again:

NSDCC March Sales & Pricing

Year
March Closings
Median List Price
Median Sales Price
Median Days-On-Market
2015
300
$1,195,000
$1,115,000
48
2016
252
$1,162,500
$1,143,665
50
2017
258
$1,096,500
$1,074,000
45
2018
258
$1,399,000
$1,396,250
16
2019
211
$1,345,000
$1,299,999
17
2020
206
$1,492,500
$1,445,000
12
2021
252
$1,810,000
$1,825,000
10
2022
206
$2,425,000
$2,625,000
9

The median sales price went from $1,445,000 to $2,625,000 in two years – an increase of 82%!

Last month’s median sales price was $200,000 ABOVE the median list price (108%), and it was 10% higher than it was in the previous month.

We are going to have to live with fewer sales from now on.

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