REAL ESTATE NEWS

San Diego's top home sales in March reveal just how important the coastal lifestyle is for high-end buyers.

The region's five priciest sales ranged from about $6.58 million to $14.5 million, according to public listings on Homes.com. Four of them were either beachfront or at least touted views of the Pacific Ocean.

Homes.com's March Home Price Report ranked San Diego's average sale price as the third highest in the nation at $915,000 (up 0.3%), just above Los Angeles's at $910,000 (1.1% decrease). San Francisco and San Jose rank second and third.

Plus, San Diego has a sunnier outlook than other Southern California markets.

It's the latest evidence that the region's climate and lifestyle have been a boon for the housing market. In February, for example, home prices were down 0.5% from a year earlier and sales were down 1.2%.

Yet, elevated mortgage rates are among the top issues holding back San Diego's luxury home market, according to CoStar and Homes.com Analyst Josh Ohl. Additionally, he said that along with the rapid rise in prices over the past six years, homeowners who may have been interested in selling may now be looking at paying capital gains tax on their property if the profit exceeds $500,000 since its purchase (for married couples).

Also, homeowners may be reluctant to sell and buy another home at a higher tax basis, with Proposition 13 effectively keeping them in their current home, Ohl told GlobeSt.com.

"While the nominal population loss in San Diego was less severe than in Los Angeles, there has been a steady outmigration from the region, tied to its status as the sixth-most expensive rental housing market and the fourth-most expensive for-sale housing market," he said.

Coupled with weaker job growth in 2025 (down roughly 60% from the previous year's levels) and inflation running the hottest in the country, Ohl said that cost-of-living concerns have become among the most discussed and visible constraints on the region.

Source: GlobeSt/ALM