Home prices in San Diego rose 1 percent between February and March, for a total increase of 6 percent over the past 12 months, according to the widely-followed Case-Shiller Index.
S&P Dow Jones Indices, which publishes the influential real-estate index, announced Tuesday the average increase nationally for the latest reporting period was 0.7 percent, with a 5.2 percent rise for the past 12 months.
“Home prices are continuing to rise at a 5 percent annual rate, a pace that has held since the start of 2015,” says David M. Blitzer, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The economy is supporting the price increases with improving labor markets, falling unemployment rates and extremely low mortgage rates.”
“Another factor behind rising home prices is the limited supply of homes on the market,” he added. “The number of homes currently on the market is less than two percent of the number of households in the U.S., the lowest percentage seen since the mid-1980s.”
Several markets in the West showed much higher price gains than San Diego, notably Seattle at 2.4 percent, San Francisco at 2.3 percent, Denver at 1.6 percent and Portland at 1.5 percent between February and March. All of those markets except San Francisco were up over 10 percent for the past 12 months.
“The Pacific Northwest and the West continue to be the strongest regions,” Blitzer said. “Seattle, Portland, Oregon and Denver had the largest year-over-year price increases. These cities also saw some of the largest declines in unemployment rates among the 20 cities included in the S&P/Case-Shiller Indices.”
