REGIONAL HOME PRICES SEE BIGGEST GAINS IN 6 YEARS

All cities in index have higher jumps than year before

San Diego home prices continued their climb in October, rising 11.6 percent — the highest in more than six years.

Prices in America’s Finest City increased the third fastest annually in the nation, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices reported Tuesday. Only Phoenix, up 12.7 percent, and Seattle, up 11.7 percent, had bigger gains.

The last time prices in the San Diego metropolitan area increased so rapidly was 12.4 percent in May 2014. Still, it is nothing compared to housing boom times when, in July 2004, prices were up 33.4 percent in a year (only to crash more than 26 percent four years later).

San Diego was not an isolated case in October. Substantial home price gains were reported throughout the nation. Prices were up 8.4 percent nationwide and all 19 metro areas in the index had faster increases than the same time last year.

“The path of home prices in recent months has been nothing short of remarkable,” wrote Zillow economist

Matthew Speakman. “In many places across the country, and in the nation overall, home prices are growing, by some measures at their fastest pace in decades.”

He said price gains were the result of low mortgage rates, millennials aging into homeownership and limited home inventory all working together to push up prices. Speakman said the same factors would likely keep the upward pressure on prices well into 2021.

The worst performing cities on the index were still up roughly triple the pace of inf lation. New York had the lowest increase, 6 percent, followed by Chicago at 6.3 percent. Detroit has been off the list since March because of pandemic-related delays at its recording office.

Other California cities saw substantial gains, but fell well short of San Diego. Los Angeles was up 8.4 percent in a year and San Francisco up 7.7 percent.

The Case-Shiller indices take into consideration repeat sales of identical singlefamily houses as they turn over through the years. Prices are seasonally adjusted. The San Diego County median home price for a resale single-family home in October was $730,000, according to CoreLogic data provided by DQNews.

CoreLogic deputy chief economist Selma Hepp wrote that possible bumps in the housing market in 2021 may be smoothed out with COVID-19 relief programs from lawmakers. She cited the extension of eviction moratoriums to help renters and foreclosure prevention efforts that will help existing homeowners stay in their homes.

“Taken together, recent stimulus actions are likely to help housing market demand and ensure continued home price growth,” she wrote.

San Diego’s inventory of homes continues to be low because of potential sellers waiting out the pandemic before listing. Looking back longer term, a history of slowed home construction has meant fewer new homes available for purchase.

There were 5,089 homes listed for sale from Oct. 5 to Nov. 1 in San Diego County in October, said the Redfin Data Center. That compares to 7,604 around the same time in 2019, 9,427 in 2018 and 7,028 in 2017.

There were 8,053 homes constructed in San Diego County in 2019, said the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California. Early signs show the county is on track to build slightly more homes this year, but it does not compare to the housing boom days. There were 17,306 homes constructed in 2004, more than double what was produced last year.