The San Diego real estate market has shown signs of stability in 2011. The number of San Diego houses sold in the twelve months ending December 29, 2011 increased slightly over the same period in 2010. The average sale price was down slightly, and the average amount of time required to sell a home in San Diego increased slightly. But the overall picture suggests that the San Diego real estate market has hit a bottom and has reached equilibrium.
San Diego Houses
There were 21,226 San Diego houses sold in the twelve months ending December 29, 2011. The average sale price for houses in San Diego County was $483,670 for an average three bedroom, two bathroom house with an average of 2,035 square feet of living area. The average market time was 76 days on market. Anything less than 90 days is considered a healthy real estate market. The average sale price to list price ratio was 95.6%, so the average buyer is able to negotiate a purchase price only 4.4% below the list price.
San Diego Homes Prices
Compare the same twelve month period ending December 29, 2010. Last year there were 21,143 houses sold, at an average sale price of $516,100 for an average three bedroom, two bathroom house with 2,006 square feet of living area. So the number of San Diego houses sold in 2011 was up a statistically insignificant 0.4% over the prior year. The average sale price was down approximately 6%, the average cost per square foot of San Diego houses in 2011 was $234.60 per square foot of living area, as compared to $246.34 per square foot in 2010… a decline of less than 5%.
The number of days required to sell the average San Diego house increased by 10 days, from 66 days in 2009. However, both the slight decline in sale prices and the slight increase in market times can likely be attributed to an increase in the number of short sales in San Diego between 2010 and 2011. There were 4,072 houses sold in short sales in 2010 compared to 4,913 San Diego short sales in 2011. Short sales are sales in which the home seller will net less from the sale of their home than they owe to the bank. The term Short Sale derives from the fact that the bank is asked to forgive the portion of the loan which the home seller is “short” on funds. Due to the bank involvement, short sales take significantly longer to complete than traditional sales. The average number of days on market for short sales of San Diego homes in 2011 was 150 days.
Overall there was little change in the San Diego real estate market between 2010 and 2011. Home buyers are seeing value at current prices, and the number of houses sold in San Diego increased in the past year, with prices down only slightly. Bargain hunters are snapping up great deals on San Diego short sales. Moving forward, outlook is very similar for 2012. With prices down and interest rates low, it’s a great time to buy a home in San Diego.
Congratulations for the good sales for 2011. Hope everything will better in 2012. Happy New Year!
Thanks Teyona. We’re all looking forward to another good year in the San Diego real estate market in 2012. Hope the same for you in Park City. Happy New Year!
Great post! By getting those stats out early you are ahead of the curve. People
will definitivly read this and think “these guys are on the ball!” .
Good luck in the new year.
Thanks Paul. Top of the curve is my perpetual goal… lol. Have a Happy New Year!
Good to hear your market is seeing some equilibrium. I hope 2012 is the year for recovery in real estate and the economy!
Well, Oklahoma didn’t do too badly in 2011 either. It will be very interesting to see what happens in 2012, being an election year.
Yes, it is going to be a good year. The San Diego economy is really taking off. In the last three months of 2011 there was nearly $300 Million of capital investment in startup companies in the San Diego. That’s going to translate into jobs and housing demand. We’re looking forward to being the Realtors who help with those moves!
I am an architect here in Dallas and I am starting to see some good signs. Last year was pretty flat like you guys. But so far this year it has taken off. I just hope it spreads to the rest of the country and we start seeing some good gains everywhere.
Wow Geoff. I thought I was just going to read basic statistics, which I find interesting it itself, but you really lay it out in a way that answers questions on what actual home buyers and sellers always want to know.
Thank you Susan! Glad you stopped by to read the blog. Come back often… and if you’d click “Like” and Google +1 I’d super appreciate it!
The signs of stability in San Diego uplifted the status of the real estate market. It is also god to high numbers in the area.
This is good to know about the sales rate of home is increasing in San Diego and for marketing purpose is best.
Great statistics, thank you. How’s your 2012 shaping up?
So how are sales so far in 2012. Here in Salt Lake sales have been pretty strong with home prices starting to come back. The median home price went up nearly 10% in August (year on year). Lets hope things continue to improve.
A recent article from Bloomberg stated that “Home prices in 20 U.S. cities climbed in June for the first time since a tax credit boosted sales in 2010, indicating the industry at the heart of the worst recession in the post-World War II era is starting to rebound. Thirteen of the 20 cities in the index showed a year-over- year gain, led by a 14 percent increase in Phoenix. Atlanta had the biggest year-over-year drop, with prices falling 12 percent.” This is good news for everyone.
Looks like USA real estate market is picking up. We are expecting the same here in Europe, however the trend is pretty bearish