‘Look out for a slowdown’: San Diego home sales slump despite more listings

San Diego home prices were up slightly in March but at a pace new homeowners might not be thrilled with.

The median home price in San Diego County was $900,000 in March, up 1.1% from the previous month, said an Attom Data Solutions report released this week. The median, a combination of all closed sales of single-family houses, townhouses and condos, is up 2.7% in a year. Last year at the same time, home prices were up 10% annually.

March’s sales were still sluggish with 2,189 closed transactions, down 3.8% from a year ago, but up 8.2% from a flimsy February.

Mark Goldman, a real estate analyst with C2 Financial Corp., said it should be clear to most San Diegans that there is a slowdown because of all the open house signs on weekends. Despite more homes listed for sale, he said, it’s not a great indicator that sales aren’t picking up.

“Inventory is up and sales are down,” Goldman said. “When that happens, look out for a slowdown in the market.”

He said, in a normal market, more homes listed for sale equal more transactions.

There were about 4,900 homes for sale in March, said the Redfin Data Center, up from roughly 3,800 at the same time last year. It took a median of 25 days for a home to sell in March, Redfin said, up from 22.5 days in late January.

The average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed rate loan was 6.65% in the last week of March, said Freddie Mac. Assuming 20% down, that would would make for a monthly payment of $4,997 — about double the average rent in San Diego County. The rate was up to 6.81% this week.

Raylene Brundage, a North County real estate agent, said she’s seen nervousness about the economy affect both buyers and sellers in recent months, from tariffs to changes at the federal government. In the past two months, she said she had two sellers back out of deals because of concern over capital gains taxes they would face with a sale.

“I still see the same skittishness,” Brundage said.

Attom said the median sale price, the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less, was $1 million for single-family homes, up 4.1% in a year. Condos and townhouses were up 2.2% for a median of $690,000.

The Trump administration has laid out some plans to reduce housing costs, including using federal land for housing. In mid-March, a joint statement by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of the Interior said it was reviewing federal lands that could be suitable for rezoning.

Attom said the U.S. median home price was $362,000 in March and for California it was $743,250. Here’s a look at  median prices across the region:

Los Angeles County: Flat month-over-month for a median sales price of $900,000; up 5.9% annually.

Orange County: Flat month-over-month for a median of $1.2 million; annual rise of 4.3%.

Riverside County: Down 0.8% annually to a median of $605,000; up 1% year over year.

San Bernardino County: Down 0.6% monthly to a median of $526,750; up 2.3% annually.

San Diego County: Up 1.1% monthly with a median of $900,000; up 2.7% annually.

Ventura County: Down 1.5% monthly to a median of $862,000; up 2.8% in a year.