February was a great month for the San Diego real estate market as a large number of homes priced under $300,000 were sold. This increase in home sales is the highest it’s been in the past five years and can be credited to an increase in cash buyers and investors.
The average price for a home purchased throughout the San Diego area decreased from February of 2011 but showed a slight increase since January 2012. Between January and February, the increase in home sales was greater than it usually is. Typically sales increase approximately 1% between January and February each year. Home sales in the San Diego area have risen for the past seven months when compared to the same month of the previous year.
The average price for a San Diego home in February was a little over $250,000, which is an increase of almost 2% from January. This increase, however, is still a decline of 4% from February of last year.
Foreclosures and short sales still continue to dominate the resale market, with all distressed property transactions comprising more than half of the real estate market.
Homes that were foreclosed on within the past year made up 33% of the resale market in February. This was a decrease from both January and from the previous February. The number of foreclosure resales was at its highest back in February of 2009 when they made up 57% of the resale market. Foreclosures were at an all time low last November, making up only 31% of the market.
For short sales, essentially when a home is sold for less than what the owner currently owes the bank, comprised a little over 20% of the San Diego housing market last month. Like foreclosures, this was a decrease from January and from February of 2011.
Homes purchased for investment and vacation property purposes were at a record 30% in February showing an increase of 2% from January and 4% from the previous February.
Also record-breaking for the month of February was the number of cash buyers, which was almost 33%. The number of cash buyers for January and the previous February was 32%. The amount paid by cash purchasers stayed the same from January at $200,000 but decreased by $5000 from last February. The monthly average for homes purchased with cash in San Diego is around 15%.
