October 2022 Housing Market – Downtown San Diego Condo Market

Nearly almost every metrics measuring the market is down this month and the market is showing signs of slowing. These numbers can be a bit deceiving though so I really want to dive into them.  The average price per square foot is down from $838/sf (April 2022) to $761/sf, but let me put that into perspective. I broke down the sales in Downtown for 2021 by buildings and neighborhoods, as I do every year. In 2021, the most expensive neighborhood was Columbia District at an average of $807/sf. In April of 2022, the average price per square foot was higher than the most expensive neighborhood for the previous year. Additionally there were only 3 buildings with average $/sf over the $838/sf we saw in April. Only 3 buildings out of 70 communities I track. We are now at an average price per square foot of $761 in Downtown San Diego, which is still +14.3% higher than one year prior. The average sales price has also dropped drastically from $1,041,345 (April 2022) down to $786,352 in September. This does not mean that property values have dropped -$254,993. It means there is less activity in the higher price ranges. This leads into the next topic I am covering.

Inventory still remains extremely low. While inventory has risen a bit since April, we only have about 35 more active listings. Downtown is sitting at a 1.5 month supply of inventory, which still strongly indicates it is a sellers market. So while the number of sales is slowing down, the market still remains incredibly tight. There just isn’t enough to choose from. If you remove all of the Hard Rock Hotel listings, which are hotel condos, the number of active listings drops down to only 107 homes. If we look back at historic numbers, from 2012-2020 the number of available listings ranged from 250-400 at any given time. During that same timeframe, month’s supply of inventory was typically between 3 months to 6 month’s supply.

The problem downtown buyers are facing right now is finding good properties that are listed appropriately. Homes with views in desirable buildings are in extremely short supply. Additionally, there are many sellers with unrealistic expectations with regard to price and are pricing properties higher than the market can bear. We are already seeing some of these homes either being pulled from the market or having substantial price reductions.

Each year, I compile the numbers for each individual building and I compare the stats. Click here to see the list of Downtown San Diego building stats for 2021.

And Always Remember, It Matters Who You Work With!

Give me a call today at (619) 228-6790 or email me at Ryan@livingthesandiegolife.com for more information or to schedule a tour of the neighborhood!