SD County Update

Having 2,218 new detached and attached listings in a county of 3.3 million people is anemic. There were 4,198 new listings in October, 2019.

But it doesn’t look like we need any more – those on the market aren’t selling like before. In fact, the unsolds are starting to stack up now, which is the #1 fear for sellers:

It’s showing here too:

These are the more typical market pressures we would see in a normalizing market. The sellers are losing some of their pricing power, and buyers think that most of the current offerings just aren’t worth it.

Local Sales and Pricing

They update the previous month’s stats on the first of month, so here’s the latest for Carmel Valley, Carlsbad, and Encinitas:


Encinitas had an crazy price bump in June, but toss that stat out and the pricing looks fairly steady. There just aren’t enough homes for sale that deserve the money. Until sales bottom, having the pricing hold up will be a challenge, especially with sellers enjoying the unnaturally high appreciation rate over the last 3+ years – if they have to give back 5% to 10% to make a deal, it won’t hurt them much.

San Diego Is Most Expensive

San Diego is #1! Hat tip to Mitch for sending this in:

According to the magazine, the Value Index measures how comfortably the average resident of a metro area can afford to live within their means. Specifically, it looks at housing affordability, as well as federal data on the parity between regional prices and national averages.

Home prices were one of the factors that pushed San Diego up on the ranking, given that average prices are considerably higher than the national rate.

In August, the median price for a single-family home came in right at $1 million for the first time in the region’s history — nearly $650,000 more than the national average by some estimates.

U.S. News and World Report also pointed to additional fees that San Diego residents have to pay, such as homeowners association dues or apartment complex maintenance costs, as another factor driving its unaffordability.

However, the magazine said that many residents are willing to pay elevated prices relating to cost-of-living, given other aspects of the region that make it an ideal place to live.

They added that some San Diegans often refer “to the cost-of-living differences as the ‘sunshine tax,’ or price of enjoying a year-round temperate climate.”

Many of the other metro areas that were placed along the top 10 have similar “sunny” reputations with their climate, including cities Los Angeles, Honolulu, Miami and Santa Barbara.

Los Angeles, which came in second place on the ranking, was also given a score of 3.3 for residents’ ability to afford living there. Although, San Diego’s northern neighbor comparatively had lower scores for other metrics used by the magazine to look at “best places to live,” including the overall and quality of life indexes.

A full list of the top 25 “most expensive places to live” in the U.S. can be found here. San Diego is #1.

This ranking comes as inflation rate nationwide remains to a persistent problem for federal officials, but San Diegans seem to have been feeling it even more.

In San Diego, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that the city exceeded the year-to-year national rate of inflation, which was around 3.7% in September. Over the last 12 months, prices in the San Diego area advanced about 4.7% overall, according to the bureau.

Housing costs have been one of the most pressing issues facing elected officials, with prices skyrocketing for both buyers and renters due to a continued lack of available units to meet the demand in the region.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3196358711262-san-diego-takes-top-spot-in-ranking-of-most-expensive-places-to-live-in-u-s

NSDCC September Sales

Even as the doom continues to pour in from other areas that aren’t as fortunate as the North San Diego County coastal region, our home sales are defying expectations. Two facts:

  1. In September, 2022, there were 146 sales with a median sales price of $1,940,000 (16% lower).
  2. There have already been 66 sales closed this month, and the current MSP is $2,150,000.

Although it would seem like a miracle, having 100+ sales per month in the fourth quarter of 2023 with a median sales price staying above $2,000,000 looks possible.

Plunging Sales

The local sales numbers are frightening. Compare our sales counts to these areas:

Populations / Sales = People Per Sale

New Hampshire: 1,389,000 / 1,490 = 932

Portland metro: 2,220,000 / 1,717 = 1,293

Las Vegas metro: 2,227,000 / 2,374 = 938

Charlotte metro: 2,267,000 / 3,316 = 684

Denver metro: 2,931,000 / 3,175 = 923

San Diego: 3,319,000 / 1,656 =  2,004

Here is how they compare – the high month in 2023 was similar to the annual low month perviously!

Sellers will have to do more than ever to improve their home for sale – just to get in the running!

San Diego YoY is #2

The following metro areas had year-over-year median home price increases of 10% or more since September 2022:

  1. Los Angeles: 23.8%
  2. San Diego: 18.2%
  3. Richmond: 15%
  4. Cincinnati, Ohio: 14.6%
  5. Providence, Rhode Island and Massachusetts: 14.6%
  6. Boston: 14.1%
  7. Columbus, Ohio: 12.1%
  8. Rochester, New York: 11.4%
  9. Pittsburgh: 10.6%
  10. Chicago: 10.3%
  11. Indianapolis: 10%

In almost all of these cities, prices leveled off or decreased in late 2022, only to rise again in 2023, according to Realtor.com data. As is the case nationally, home prices have risen in these places because there are simply not enough homes built to meet demand, says Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com.

California has a longstanding housing shortage — perhaps the worst in the country — so home price growth in L.A. and San Diego isn’t overly surprising, especially considering price gains in recent years. Median home prices in L.A. and San Diego have increased by 38% and 48% since January 2020, respectively, based on Realtor.com’s active listings data.

Link to Article

SP:LP Ratio

One of the best ways to monitor the pricing trends is to watch for changes in the SP:LP ratio. Last year the pricing got soft in the fourth quarter, so we’ll keep an eye on the SP:LP trend this year – but so far, so good:

Five-Year Sales History

Here are each year’s sales counts for the January-through-August time frame.

It shows the extraordinary 2021 sales numbers in most areas!

But if you thought getting back to the numbers we had in 2019 would feel normal, we’re not there yet. In fact, most areas are well under their 2019 sales counts, except for Rancho Santa Fe!

The new normal is lower sales with sticky prices.

Plateau City

This is what it feels like in Plateau City. It’s a little bumpy but the pricing looks range-bound.

Sales cool off towards the end of the year – even during the frenzy. Surprisingly, last month might end up being the best of the year for sales, and the market should settle down for the rest of 2023….shouldn’t it?

There are only 157 NSDCC pendings today, so it’s likely that in the 4th quarter of 2023, the monthly sales will slip under 100 per month, which is fine. Everyone will be anticipating the spring selling season!

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