Today’s headline in the San Diego Union-Tribune: ‘Condo conversion craze grinds to a halt’ was surprisingly right-on, but about three months behind the times. I’d venture to say a better headline would have been: ‘Residential sales grid to a halt with double digit depreciation in many areas.’
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Buried within the article is an example of the extent of our downturn. The average asking price of a 2 bedroom condo conversion last year in one development was $440,000. Â The same 2 bedroom average price in this one development is now $371,000. This is a 15.6% drop and is not exclusive to just the cited developement, or condo conversions in particular. No, this example of real world double digit home depreciation is true for the majority of residential resales throughout San Diego!Â
Selling in today’s market really requires a top San Diego real estate agent to insure you get the best possible price.
I think Las Vegas was the first of the over-heated markets to record double digit price depreciation.
Keep up the great posts.
Ali
Good post! The Union may catch up to your reporting by December.
You’re my top blog in my RSS reader.
Hi Bob:
Tell your sellers to head out to Dallas! Our real estate is about half that of San Diego and our values are moving UP!!
As a Property Manager one of the scariest thing about the condo conversions is the naivete of the first time buyers the conversions are supposedly appealing to. They look at the granite counters and the new carpet and have no idea of what kind of potential problems are lurking in the 30 year old plumbing and electrical systems. They don’t understand that once the units have all been sold and the LLC disbands they as members or the homeowner’s association will be responsible for maintaining and possibly replacing them. They also don’t understand as their new family grows and they are in need of a larger home the potential for renting this property at anywhere near what they are paying for it is pretty much nil. The chance of selling it for what they paid for it in the next few years is probably non-existant.
In 2005 most of the commenters on the real estate market were saying there’s no bubble and our mini boom would never end, this is a sure sign that an end is fast approaching.
Doug
San Diego County medical Research Studies
Very informative real estate insights!
Thanks
Joe