San Diego home prices rose 4.8 percent in the year since March 2014, according to a national index measuring housing prices, barely less than the 5 percent increase seen across the country’s 20 largest cities and nudging out the 4.7 percent growth reported for February.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index said on Tuesday the largest gains were in San Francisco and Denver, which each had about 10 percent growth. The jump was San Francisco’s first double-digit increase since July. Denver saw similar growth in last month’s Case-Shiller report. Cleveland and Washington, D.C., tied for last place with 1 percent growth.
The pace of price hikes has slowed nationwide in the last year, with the national index growing 4.1 percent since last March compared to a 10 percent leap between August 2013 and February 2014, the report said.
David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, shot down talk of another housing bubble. He argued that since housing prices are rising faster than per capita income and wages, the pool of future home buyers is shrinking and moderations in home prices are likely.
“Home prices have enjoyed year-over-year growth for 35 consecutive months,” Blitzer said. “Given the long stretch of strong reports, it is no surprise that people are asking if we’re in a new house price bubble. The only way you can be sure of a bubble is looking back after it’s over.”
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