I thought it would be fun to check back in with an update on the San Diego / King County home price comparison I made back in March.
As of the latest Case-Shiller data (February) home prices San Diego have fallen 24% from their November 2006 peak. The Seattle area has dropped 6.5% from its July 2007 peak.
April median price for all homes sold (single-family + condos):
- San Diego County: $400,000 (source: San Diego Union-Tribune)
- King County: $410,000 (source: NWMLS)
Both counties had an anemic spring bounce of sorts, but that didn’t stop aggregate home prices in San Diego County from falling below King County, thanks to a huge drop in March. Here’s an update of the graph from March, based on the following two supposedly realistic assumptions:
- King County home prices will remain flat through December.
- San Diego County home prices will continue to decline, at roughly half the rate they have dropped in the last six months.
The gap has widened since March, and those assumptions now lead to an 11% price difference by the end of the year. But of course San Diego doesn’t have any tech jobs, and their economy is basically in the toilet, so that makes perfect sense. Wait, neither of those statements is true at all.