Signs of Slowing (San Diego real estate)

[Zorro]

The bloom may be coming off the rose...we're seeing homes in our neighborhood on the market for 3-4 months now...

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For San Diego County property owners, the past six years have been a modern-day gold rush. Median home values have more than doubled. Thanks to this soaring equity, the average San Diego homeowner is about $300,000 richer today than at the turn of the decade.

But will the wealth created by this historic run-up in prices last?

Over the past several months, San Diego's ebullient housing market has shown signs of exhaustion. Instead of receiving multiple offers within days of listing their homes, sellers are finding buyers reluctant to commit. More homes are for sale, and fewer of them are selling. From January through May – the latest figures available – the number of San Diego homes and condos changing hands dropped 8.5 percent from a year earlier, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems.

This slowdown could signal an end to the region's housing boom. If that happens, the question will be whether prices crash as they did in Southern California 15 years ago or simply glide to a soft landing.

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More at: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050710-9999-lz1n10signs.html

Since San Diego has been the bellweather metro area for real estate appreciation the past five years, the question this apparent slowdown raises is whether it signals an impending national trend in housing prices.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. People have been speculated of a housing crash for

a while now

Now me I feel like avulture but until them prices crash I canonot afford a condo, let alone a house

[stray cat]

2. Same here - I'm moving to the New York area

I am really hoping for the housing bubble to burst because there is no way I'll be buying anything right now.

[Zorro]

3. Bump

because this may be evidence indicating that the "housing bubble" may be on its last legs.