Home for sale
A renovated home for sale in Point Loma. Photo by Chris Jennewein

Home prices in San Diego County fell 2.8% in August amid a nationwide “deceleration” in real estate appreciation, according to the widely-followed Case-Shiller index released Tuesday.

The August decline followed drops of 2.6% in July and 0.7% in June after steadily rising since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

Nationwide home prices fell an average of 1.1% in August following a 0.5% dip in July.

“The growth rate of housing prices peaked in the spring of 2022 and has been declining ever since,” said Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

“On a month-over-month basis, the biggest declines occurred on the West Coast, with San Francisco (-4.3%), Seattle (-3.9%), and San Diego (-2.8%) falling the most,” he added.

But he noted that “despite the ongoing deceleration, August’s housing prices remain well above year-ago levels.”

He said the price declines were likely to continue amid rising mortgage rates and “a challenging macroeconomic environment.”

Chris Jennewein is founder and senior editor of Times of San Diego.