House is for sale in San Carlos area. Photo by Chris Stone
House is for sale in San Carlos area. Photo by Chris Stone

The rise in San Diego home prices slowed again in May, with just a 0.6% increase compared to 2.3% in April and 3.7% in March, according to the authoritative Case-Shiller Index released Tuesday.

Despite the slowdown in recent months, local home prices are still 25.6% higher than a year ago — above the national average of 19.7%.

“Housing data for May 2022 continued strong, as price gains decelerated slightly from very high levels,” said Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

He cited the increasing cost of mortgage financing as a factor in the slowdown, and cautioned that “a more-challenging macroeconomic environment may not support extraordinary home price growth for much longer.”

In contrast to San Diego, monthly price gains remained above 2% in a number of cities, including Miami at 2.9%, Tampa at 2.8% and Dallas at 2.6%. The national average increase in May was 1.5% compared to 2.3% in April.

“Prices continued strongest in the South and Southeast, both of which recorded 30.7% gains year-over-year,” said Lazzara.

Chris Jennewein is Editor & Publisher of Times of San Diego.