SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Home prices continue to rise in our area and now one study says San Diego has become the least affordable city in the state.
It’s bypassed Los Angeles and San Francisco based on people’s income and the price of single-family homes.
Local real estate experts say San Diego is now in a perfect storm. Inventory is lower than it’s been in decades, which drives up prices and people just aren’t making enough money to buy a home.
“The main factor I think, is incredibly low inventory which was caused by the pandemic,” said Matt Battiata, of Battiata Real Estate Group.
According to a study conducted by OJO Labs, home prices in San Diego jumped 14.3% in the last year and as of January, the median home price was $764,000.
Battiata says more remote workers and people choosing not to sell, are also contributing to San Diego’s housing crisis.
“We’ve had a big surge of people moving here from basically the whole West Coast. Seattle, Portland, the whole San Francisco Bay area, L.A. and Orange County. Those people make a lot more money than most people here in San Diego,” said Battiata.
Battiata says San Diego currently has about a one-month supply of homes but it’s usually about 4 to 5 months of supply. Low interests rate make buying even more competitive.
USD real estate professor Norm Miller adds that local leadership should also examine what future home-building will look like in San Diego.
“In a lot of neighborhoods, there’s a minimum size that’s too big to be affordable and you can’t subsidize everybody with public housing. You have to make it market affordable and the only way to do that is to allow some smaller homes," Miller said.
The average income in San Diego is just over $68,000, which isn’t enough to buy the average-priced home. Miller says some people use multiple generations of their family to buy and others, well, they’re simply packing their bags.
“We’ve lost 600,000 people from California in the last 15 months,” Miller said.
Because San Diego is still such a desirable place to live, both Battiata and Miller say they don’t know if or when the market will shift for buyers.
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