January 2015 San Diego Real Estate Market Update

4:04 PM on Mon, January 12, 2015 | 48 Views

Strong 2014 Final Results Anticipated for US Housing Market

Although it takes a few weeks for nationwide data to be compiled, experts from the National Association of Realtors are anticipating that 2014's final numbers will look pretty impressive. Sales of existing homes are set to finish the year at 4.94 million, with the median price of those properties poised to show a 5.6% increase in value in 2014.

According to NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, that equates to around a 25% spike in value for homeowners over the past three years.

While the real estate market may have showed some signs of slowing down towards the end of 2014, experts are quick to caution both current property owners and prospective buyers not to discount the market just yet. NAR housing expectations for 2015 have existing-home sales rising 7.4%, and median home prices increasing another 4%.

If recent data collected by SentriLock is any indication, we may be well on the way towards those goals already. That's because SentriLock's Diffusion Index of Foot Traffic had property showings up 20 points during December. Although not a firm measure of future results, an increase is foot traffic does have a strong correlation to an increased number of home contracts and closings.

San Diego Real Estate Ends 2014 with a Bang

Locally, the San Diego real estate market finished up 2014 with a strong increase in sales. Despite the anticipated seasonal slowdown around the holidays, December saw the number of sold listings spike to 2,527 – a 23.4% increase from November. Overall, the number of sales last month showed a 16.3% increase year-over-year when compared to 2013's results.

On top of the continuously improving local economy, many industry professionals feel that the growing number of sales is largely the result of the recent drop in consumer interest rates. The average interest rate in December was just 4.07%, and so far in 2015 we've seen it drop down even further to 3.99%. Compared to the 4.53% average last January, buyers are able to save hundreds of dollars a month in interest thanks to current conditions.

December's data also shows a slight year-over-year decrease in the average number of days that homes are taking to sell. After hanging steady at 48 days for the previous three months, December saw the Average Days on Market increase to 49 – which is still lower than the already impressive average of 51 days during the same period in 2013.

All-in-all, 2014 wound up being a strong year for the San Deal real estate market, and current conditions are still promising for both first-time buyers eager to get a great deal and current homeowners ready to sell their current property and move up to something even better. To find out if it's the right time to sell your San Diego home, find out what your home is worth in today's market.