Home prices fell slightly in San Diego between September and October, but were still up 6.2 percent over the last 12 months, according to the latest Case-Shiller report.
The respected S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday show a 0.3 percent month-to-month decline for San Diego, which was joined by seven other metro areas among the nation’s 20 largest in reporting decreases.
Even with the decline, San Diego home prices have grown faster than the national average of 5.2 percent over the past 12 months.
The nation’s hottest real estate markets continued to be San Francisco, Denver and Portland with year-over-year increases of nearly 11 percent.
“Generally good economic conditions continue to support gains in home prices,” says David M. Blitzer, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Among the positive factors are consumers’ expectations of low inflation and further economic growth as well as recent increases in residential construction including single-family housing starts.”
“Inventories of existing homes have averaged around a five month supply for the past year, a level that suggests a fairly tight market with limited supplies,” he added, but noted that sales of new single-family homes “remain mixed to soft.”
Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell said the U.S. housing market “made great progress in 2015,” but noted several challenges ahead.
“The median age of first-time homebuyers will reach new highs next year as more millennials delay key life decisions and stay in rental housing longer,” she said. “This is likely to help rents keep rising, though at a slower pace than we’ve seen, which will contribute to worsening rental affordability. “
