San Diego County home prices have hit the highest level in five years, as distressed sales continue to fall and mortgage rates are still near record lows.
The median price of a home sold in April rose to $400,000, up 21 percent from the same time a year ago, reported San Diego-based real estate monitor DataQuick on Tuesday.
Last month's median price matched the median in April 2008, and the all-time peak was $517,500 in November 2005. Sales, which remain brisk, rose 7 percent from a year ago to 3,792.
The county has seen double-digit annual increases for the past eight months, prompting some concerns of a lead-up to another housing bubble.
Michael Lea, a real estate economist at San Diego State University, believes those fears are overblown. Continued hikes in home prices are due largely to a shift from a distressed market, which brought consumers heavily discounted deals, to a more traditional market. Short sales -- deals that let borrowers sell their homes for less than what they owe -- are also declining.
Properties that were lost to foreclosure in the past year and resold in April made up 10 percent of total home resales, the lowest share in six years, DataQuick numbers show. They peaked at 55 percent in January 2009. The median price at that time was $280,000.
"The market has seen a significant decline in the number of lower-priced transactions, in part because foreclosures and short sales are petering out," Lea said.
Article provided by UT San Diego
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