Insider Look at North County San Diego Real Estate Statistics

As the largest real estate association for all of San Diego County, we usually focus our statistical analysis on the county as a whole. But as any San Diegan will tell you, the county is vast and there are some big differences in the various communities. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to be community-specific and really delve into each of the smaller real estate markets within the county.

I’ve decided to start the spotlight series with North County. Over the years there has been some discrepancy as to specifically which zip codes fall under the North County jurisdiction. Some people only consider the coastal communities to be North County. Others include as far north as Bonsall and Temecula. For our purposes I’ve identified North County as the zip codes in: Cardiff, Carlsbad, Del Mar, Encinitas, Escondido, Oceanside, Poway, Rancho Santa Fe, San Marcos, Solana Beach, Vista, Valley Center, Rancho Bernardo, and Carmel Valley.

Overall, these North County zip codes have been seeing some positive trending, with a steady number of sold listings for both detached and attached properties. In June of 2009, North County had 693 sold listings for detached properties (homes) and 282 sold listings for attached properties (apartments and condos). This factored out to approximately 36.8 percent of the county’s sold homes and 27.7 percent of the county’s sold apartments. These numbers are high considering the proportion of the North County zip codes to the entire county.

The zip code with the highest number of sold homes year to date for 2009 is Escondido’s 92027. This may be attributed in part to the median price, which at $230,000 is the second lowest median price in North County. However, the zip codes with the second and third most sold listings were 92056 and 92057 in Oceanside, and these had significantly higher median prices. These communities ranked 7th and 9th from the bottom of the list of North County median prices. It is likely that the high number of sold listings in these zip codes can be attributed to the relative affordability of Oceanside compared to other coastal communities, and as a result of recent redevelopment efforts made by the City of Oceanside.

It is also interesting to note that the community with the lowest median price, Escondido’s 92025, has only sold 192 properties to date, which is 54 less properties than sold in the higher priced Oceanside. This would indicate that people in North County are not buying solely based on price or deals.

The three zip codes in North County that have sold the most apartments and condos reflect a similar trend in the relation of price to sold listings. The same two Oceanside communities again have the most sold listings, as well as Rancho Bernardo’s 92128. All three of these zip codes were far from the least expensive. The Oceanside zips ranked 4th and 10th from the bottom on the list of North County median prices with year to date median prices being $133,000 and $192,000 respectively. The year to date median in Rancho Bernardo was even higher, and at $276,000 it was actually above the overall year to date median price for North County.

In addition to steadily selling homes in areas with higher prices, North County residents are also experiencing an increase in median pricing and an overall higher median price than the county. The median for detached homes in June was $480,000 and year to date is $472,500. This tells us two things:

1. Much like the rest of the county, North County has recently seen an increase in median price.

2. That the median price in North County is substantially higher than it is in the county as a whole. San Diego’s median for June was $360,000 and year to date was $335,000.

Median price for attached properties in North County showed a similar trend to that of detached properties. The June median for North County was $260,000 and North County’s year to date median was $255,000. These numbers are compared to San Diego county’s medians: $215,000 in June and $190,000 year to date.

Overall it seems that the countywide improvements in the real estate market are certainly holding true in North County. These zip codes are attributing for 34 percent of the sold properties in the county while they only make up 26 percent of the county’s zip code. North County’s median price is also substantially higher than the county median for both detached and attached homes. In fact, in some North County areas the median is as high as $2,025,000 for homes in Rancho Santa Fe and $910,000 for apartments and condos in Cardiff. I am optimistic that these improvements will continue not only in North County, but all across San Diego.

For more information, visit realtor.org.

By San Diego Association of REALTORS President, Erik Weichelt