Despite the conventional wisdom, not every local homeowner got rich off of their real-estate investments in San Diego County last year, according to a report from CoreLogic. In fact, in some rare cases, homes in some ZIP codes may have dipped in value year-over-year.
In fact, the real-estate number cruncher's figures show that, while the sales of single family residences appeared to have nearly doubled in value in one San Diego community during the past year, home prices may have gone down in handful of locales.
It's worth pointing out that CoreLogic's figures are based on comparing sales figures from February 2021 and the same month a year later. Not every home in a community is included in their statistical sampling, just those that turned over in that particular month.
According to CL (here come the abbreviations), 1,773 sales single-family residences (SFR) were sold in San Diego County during that window, rising 18.2%, up to a median price of $875,000. For their part, condos spiked even more, soaring 21.2%, to $612,000. Those figures are based on the sales this February of 936 condos.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
So, how does that compare with our neighbors to the north? In Los Angeles County, where there were 3,560 sales of SFRs, the median change in value was an increase of 13%, up to a median price of $870,000. To our immediate north, in Orange County, homeowners of SFRs saw a whopping increase of 28.2%, with the median home price jumping to $1,167,000.
So, San Diego's real estate as an investment would seem to have outperformed LA — always great — but (and you hate to see this) came up short compared with the OC.
Local
And closer to home? Well, the data appears to show the rich got richer, for sure, especially in chichi Del Mar. Not that they need the money, but SFR residents there enjoyed a nearly improbable increase of 99.7%. Based on 13 sales in February, the median home price there was $3,895,000. Condos, too, soared where the surf meets the turf, up 97.6%, to $1,452,000.
What about down in OB, where there's a slightly different financial flavor? Fourteen Obecians netted an extremely healthy 81% increase on SFRs, up to $1,838,000. Condos rose 31.2%, to $663,000. OB Noodle House and Winston's have come a long, long way. Probably more than just a Target going in here that made the difference.
Another mild surprise, this one down by the border, where SFR median home prices surged 71.3%, up to $685,000 (based on four sales), but condos were only lifted 12.7%, to $316,000.
Sleepy Solana Beach, meanwhile, lived up to its reputation, with median SFR prices remaining even, year-over-year. That's right, 0.0%, despite the sales of eight houses. They'll just have to make do when they get back to their $2,525,000 homes after a night Belly-ing Up to Bruce the shark. Condo dwellers did a little better, eyeing an increase of 18.9%, to $1,303,000 (six sales).
Other ZIP codes that caught our eye:
- Clairemont: SFRs up 25.3%, to $1,003,00 (44 sales), BUT condos up 72.6%, to $635,000 (7 sales)
- North Park: SFRs up 68%, to $1,400,000 (13 sales). Condos up 36.2%, to $580,000 (24 sales)
- Pauma Valley: SFRs up 82.3%, to $1,062,000 (based on just two sales). There were no condo sales in February
- Rancho Santa Fe: SFRs up 63.3%, to $5,225,000 (20 sales). Yes, that's the real number
Around the horn, it's hard not to notice that there were only three markets where the median price of condos slipped: Bonita, Borrego Springs and, oddly, Encinitas, where 12 condos hit the block.
The median values of SFRs in five ZIP codes were also in negative territory, since last February: Alpine, Bonsall, downtown San Diego, Ranchita and Mission Valley. If you're wondering about downtown, the sampling was not large — there was only one sale of an SFR, bringing the median down 53.6%, to $255,000, but, no worries the median price of condo was up 11.6%, to 698,000. No surprise here: There were more condo sales — 84 — downtown than there were in any other ZIP code in the county.
In related news, you can buy a single-family residence in downtown for a quarter-million bucks? Grab 'em if you can. Prob not too many of those hitting the market.
