San Diego Home Prices Turn the Corner or Just a Blip?

According to the San Diego Business Journal, the San Diego Association of Realtors reports the Medium housing prices may have actually turned the corner. Data gathered from Sandicor, the multiple listing services, show housing sales up 60 percent from a year ago, along with a rise in prices from November to December 2008. Resale house prices rose 2.6 percent to $349,450 and a 2.6 percent in condos to $200,000. This does not take away from the fact that housing prices overall dropped 30% from year to year and condos dropped 36%. So we still have a long ways to go.

However, Sellers with homes in good conditions are getting multiple offers starting to drive prices upwards. So I am hopeful, yet wary, the housing prices has hit the bottom. While I think that the housing market is stabilizing, the unemployment rate is still affecting the economy. According to San Diego Metropolitan UpTown Examiner and Daily Business Report the unemployment rate has risen from 4.9 percent in October 2007 to 6.9 percent in November 2008. With the economy still trying to recover, we may still have another year before our home prices actually begin to rise again due to short sales and foreclosures.

So if you missed the opportunity to buy a house in the last few years because the housing prices were too high, now is your chance. The housing prices have rolled back to 2003 prices. How long will this last? Or will the prices drop further? Only those who can foretell the future will know. Why risk missing the boat again? It is time to buy. There are signs that the economy may improve this coming year and you may miss the boat.

--Virginia Hall



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