Local Home Prices Edged Up in March

The cost of a home in San Diego edged upward by 0.4 percent in March, compared to the previous month, according to the Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Housing Price Indices.

Over a 12-month period ending in March, residential real estate costs in San Diego declined 2.7 percent, according to S&P, which began recording the average cost of a house in January 2000 in 20 large cities and has since tracked the subsequent rises and falls.

San Diego's index now stands at 149.68, meaning the value has appreciated nearly 50 percent in the past dozen years. That increase is fourth nationally behind Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles.

The value in the big 20 markets combined was unchanged from February to March, but was down 2.6 percent from March 2011 levels.

“While there has been improvement in some regions, housing prices have not turned,” says David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices. He called the March results mixed, with fewer markets showing poor results but no signs of a broad real estate recovery.

The biggest annual gain in prices was Phoenix, at 6.1 percent, S&P reported. The worst drop was in Atlanta, with a 17.7 percent loss since March 2011.

– City News Service