January Resale Home Prices

San Diego’s home price freefall appeared to slow substantially last month.

The size-adjusted median price, aka the median price per square foot, still fell last month for resale single family homes, but this time it fell 1.1 percent for the month as opposed to last month’s brutal 4.6 percent drop. The resale condo size-adjusted median actually rose by 1.3 percent for the month. A volume-weighted aggregate of the two property types dropped by .3 percent from December.

Despite the easing of downward pressure, the year-over-year declines were still substantial, at 13.7 percent for single family homes, 14.2 percent for condos, and 13.9 percent in aggregate. Since the peak of this series in September 2005, the size-adjusted median price has fallen 20.6 percent for single family homes, 22.0 percent for condos, and 21.1 percent in aggregate.

The less accurate but more widely reported “plain vanilla” median price didn’t fare so well. The median condo price was flat for the month, but the single family home median was crushed for another 4.0 percent. That figure represents further catching up by the vanilla median, which had been understating price declines up until recently, and so it overstates last month’s actual price decline. It is nonetheless the figure that will be reported by most media outlets.

Since the aggregate peak in November 2005, for what it’s worth, the plain vanilla median resale price has fallen by 18.1 percent for single family homes, 19.9 percent for condos, and 18.8 percent in aggregate.

— RICH TOSCANO