Steady increases indicate that housing recovery gaining ground
San Diego home prices are up again, fueling optimism that the real estate market continues to rebound, said the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday.
Local prices rose 0.9 percent in November from October and are up 8 percent from a year ago, based on the monthly report, which has a two-month lag. November marked the 10th straight month of home-price gains for the San Diego region, one of 20 major metro areas tracked by Case-Shiller. It also marked the fifth straight month of year-over-year increases.
Nine other major cities enjoyed price gains, when comparing prices from October to November. On a year-ago basis, only New York saw a drop in home values, at 1.2 percent. Nationally, Phoenix, one of the hardest-hit areas during the downturn, showed the most year-over-year progress. Prices there increased 22.8 percent when comparing November to the same month a year ago.
“Regional patterns are shifting as well,” Tuesday’s report said. “The Southwest — Las Vegas and Phoenix — are staging a strong comeback with the Southeast — Miami and Tampa — close behind. The Sunbelt, which bore the brunt of the housing collapse, is back in a leadership position. California is also doing well, while the northeast and industrial Midwest is lagging somewhat.”
When looking at all 20 areas tracked, prices were basically flat, at 0.1 percent, from October to November. But they’re up 5.5 percent when comparing November to the same month a year ago.
Case-Shiller analysts say San Diego’s current home prices have returned to fall 2003 levels, about two years before the market peaked.
“Housing is clearly recovering,” the housing report said. “Prices are rising as are both new- and existing-home sales. Existing-home sales in November were 5.0 million, highest since November 2009. New-home sales at 398,000 were the highest since June 2010. These figures confirm that housing is contributing to economic growth.”
Written by,
Lily Leung
