January is typically a slow month for home sales in San Diego — but this January was unusually slow.

There were 1,682 home sales in January, CoreLogic reported, which was the lowest recorded in data going back to 1988.

Unlike other times when the real estate market shifted — like the Great Recession — people aren’t losing their homes due to unemployment. Instead, looking to hold on to lower interest rates, today’s homeowners are staying put — dropping the number of homes for sale to almost their lowest level in three years. Meanwhile, rising interest rates are making what homes are available unaffordable for many buyers.

San Diego County’s median home price — which includes resale single-family, condos, townhouses and newly built homes — fell for the eighth month to $750,750. That’s down from a peak of $850,000 in May.

Homes are still getting multiple offers — just under the asking price. There are buyers out there, but they can’t afford homes at last year’s prices. The price for a resale single-family home is still up considerably for many buyers, she noted. From January 2020 to January 2023, the price has increased 30.2 percent.

From Jan. 1 to Jan. 29, there were 3,175 homes listed for sale in San Diego County. That’s down from nearly 6,000 at the end of the summer.

Buyers in January had lower interest rates but it didn’t seem to move the market too much. The interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was around 6.1 percent at the end of January, said Freddie Mac, down from a high of 7.08 percent in November. But rates are on the rise again, with the fixed-rate for a 30-year mortgage around 6.88 percent.

Here’s how the different home types fared in January:

Resale single-family: Median of $820,000, with 1,027 sales, and down from its peak of $950,000 in April.

Resale condo: Median of $600,000, down from its peak of $663,000 in May. There were 517 sales.

Newly built: Median of $849,500, with 101 sales. This figure combines single-family homes, townhouses and condos. Down from the peak of $890,500 in August.

The monthly cost of a mortgage has gone up significantly in a year’s time when considering rising interest rates. Taking San Diego County’s median home price — the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less — of $750,750, the monthly cost has gone from $2,997 to $3,934. That assumes a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with a 20 percent down payment.

Here’s a look at the median prices across Southern Californian markets for December:

Los Angeles County: Monthly drop of 1.5% to $763,000; down 2.9% for the year.
Orange County: Monthly rise of 1.7% to $950,000; Flat for the year.
Riverside County: Monthly drop of 1.8% to $539,250; up 0.8% for the year.
San Bernardino County: Monthly drop of 8.2% to $450,000; down 1.1% for the yr.
San Diego County: Monthly drop of 0.7% to $750,750; up 0.1% for the year.
Ventura County: Monthly drop of 1.8% to $670,000; down 2.1% for the year.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar