Home and Condo Sales Continued Rising in March

Sales of single-family, re-sale homes rose 15.4% from February, reaching the highest level since last August. Year-over-year, home sales were off 33.2%.

The median price for single-family, re-sale homes in San Diego County was flat in March at $440,000. Year-over-year, the median price of homes was down 24.1%. The average price for homes rose 5.2% from February, off 15.1% year-over-year.

Condo sales gained 17.5%, month-over-month, down 37.2% compared to last March.

The median price for condos was also flat at $295,000, off 21.3% year-over-year. The average price for condos fell 0.2% month-over-month, down 14.8% compared to last March.

Remember, these are statistical prices. When the market was going up, the large number of million dollar plus sales skewed prices upward. With the large number of bank-owned properties going through the system, prices are being skewed downward.

The sales price to list price for single-family homes fell 1.4 points to 93.1%. The ratio for condos dropped 0.4 of a point to 94.5%.

Days on market for homes fell three days to 81 days. Days on market for condos rose one to 87 days. Take these numbers with a grain of salt. If a property listing is canceled, withdrawn or expired and then re-listed, days on market is re-set to zero.

The real estate market is very hard to generalize. It is a market made up of many micro markets. As Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors, recently said, "Knowing the median price is interesting, but it is as indicative of the value of your home as knowing the median temperature in America is to predicting the local weather." For complete information on a particular neighborhood or for an evaluation of your home's worth, call me.