San Diego Home Prices
With today’s release of the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index report, which tracks residential home price appreciation in 20 major cities throughout the United States, San Diego home prices saw a 4.78% year over year appreciation for December 2014.
The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index report always has a lag time of two months. Some other notable facts in this report were that the highest year-over-year appreciation for December 2014 was seen in San Francisco, where they had a 9.3% increase. Coming in close second for best appreciation for the December 2012 year-over-year, was Miami at 8.4%.
Now all 20 cities tracked showed appreciation for December 2014 but the smallest appreciation in home prices was in Chicago with a 1.3% increase.
Many real estate professionals attribute the continued increases to a lowering in qualifying standards as well as a decrease in the minimum down payment required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Overall, for all 20 cities in the index, the average appreciation in December 2014 was a modest 4.8% year-over-year. As a comparison, for December 2012 to December 2013 the case Shiller index rose an average of 18%!
The S&P Index Committee Chair David Blitzer said: “Prospects for a home run in 2015 aren’t good. Strong price gains are limited to California, Florida, the Pacific Northwest, Denver, and Dallas. Most of the rest of the country is lagging the national index gains. Moreover, these price patterns have been in place since last spring. Existing home sales were lower in 2014 than 2013, confirming these trends.
“Difficulties facing the housing recovery include continued low inventory levels and stiff mortgage qualification standards. Distressed sales and investor purchases for buy-to-rent declined somewhat in the fourth quarter. The best hope for housing is the rest of the economy where the news is better. 2014 was a good year for job creation and weekly unemployment claims – good short term indicators – which continue to provide upbeat reports. Consumer confidence, helped by cheap gasoline prices, is strong, and a good GDP number is expected this week.”
