The San Diego metropolitan area’s annual home price increased 8 percent in November, said a just released S&P Case-Shiller Indices report. It was the second highest in the 20-city index for a third month, behind Detroit, which rose 8.2 percent.

This was the biggest annual rise in prices since September 2022. America’s Finest City is seeing prices increase the most in California, with Los Angeles up up 7.2 percent and San Francisco up 2 percent.

The San Diego metropolitan area, which includes all of San Diego County, was not alone in gains with nationwide prices up 5.4 percent — its highest level in 2023.

“The main reason prices continue to rise is because inventory is so low,” wrote Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist for Bright MLS, “and there is little to suggest that the supply picture is going to change dramatically in 2024.”

She wrote that it’s possible some high-cost markets could soften in the new year because rising prices with higher interest rates are potentially unsustainable. But, she said buyers in higher cost markets, like San Diego, should not expect drastic price cuts.

The Case-Shiller Indices track repeat sales of identical single-family houses — and are seasonally adjusted — as they turn over through the years. The San Diego County median resale single-family home price was $925,000 in November.

Zillow senior economist Orphe Divounguy, who was in San Diego recently for a conference, said it’s important to remember that prices were starting to drop around this same time last year. He noted monthly data shows San Diego prices rose just 0.2 percent from October to November.

Even if prices are going up, it doesn’t mean there is a lot of real estate activity in San Diego County. There were 1,982 home sales in November, said CoreLogic, which is the seventh-lowest sales month in county history, show records going back to 1988.

In the last week of November, the average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 7.2 percent, said Freddie Mac. It was down to an average 6.87 percent Tuesday morning, said Mortgage News Daily.

Not all markets in the 20-city index were riding a wave of price increases. Portland was down 0.7 percent year-over-year. The slowest gaining markets were Denver, up 1.5 percent, and Seattle, up 1.6 percent.

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Annual price growth by metropolitan area
S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, November 2023

Detroit: 8.2 percent
San Diego 8.0
Cleveland 7.4
New York 7.4
Los Angeles 7.2
Boston 7.1
Charlotte 7.0
Chicago 7.0
Atlanta 5.9
Tampa 3.4
Washington 3.4
Minneapolis 2.7
Phoenix 2.5
Las Vegas 2.1
Miami 2.1
San Francisco 2.0
Dallas 1.7
Seattle 1.6
Denver 1.5
Portland -0.7

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar