San Diego County home prices hit a level in April not seen since summer 2007, real estate firm CoreLogic reported Tuesday.

The median home price was $489,000 in April, a 7.5 percent increase from the same time last year.

However, the number of sales — 3,980 — was down nearly 2 percent from April 2015.

CoreLogic said positive economic factors, like job growth and low mortgage interest rates are fueling demand. But, it said a lack of homes for sale, as well as credit and affordability issues, were keeping potential buyers out of houses.


San Diego County’s median price has still not hit its pre-recession peak of $517,500 reached in November 2005.

Dana Kuhn, real estate lecturer at San Diego State University, said rising prices do not mean a housing bubble but could have other negative consequences.

“Each booms’ peak exceeds the previous booms’ peak,” he said. “What would be more problematic is, are we going to get income growth to allow people to buy these homes?”

Twenty-eight percent of homes were considered affordable in San Diego County in the first quarter of 2016, said a recent report from the California Association of Realtors, which is the same as it was in the first quarter of 2015.


In San Diego County, the report said a household would need to make $110,286 a year to make the $2,757 monthly mortgage, taxes and insurance payments.

Despite low home inventory, Kuhn said home prices could flatten out because wage growth is not keeping up with rising prices.

Real wage growth increased 1.2 percent in San Diego County from the first quarter 2014 to the first quarter 2015, accounting for inflation, said data from the state Employment Development Department and the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

San Diego County’s newly built homes had the biggest increase in price in April, rising 16.5 percent from last year. Condos were up 5.7 percent from last year and resale homes increased 7 percent, CoreLogic said.


The rest of Southern California had similar changes with a total drop in sales of 3.2 percent. Orange County tied its all-time high median sale price of $645,000 last month, while the median sale prices in Los Angeles and San Diego counties is within 5.5 percent of peak levels.

Over the last 12 months, the median sale price in Ventura County rose the most in Southern California at 10.4 percent to $530,000, CoreLogic said. It was followed by San Diego County and Orange County at 7.5 percent; Los Angeles County at 7.3 percent; Riverside County at 6.5 percent; and San Bernardino County at 6.3 percent.

phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar