San Diego County’s median home price continued to climb in November to a new high of $750,000 as limited inventory put pressure on prices.

Local prices have risen 15.4% in a year, reported CoreLogic/DQNews. The new median — which includes new and resale condos, townhouses and single-family homes — exceeds the peak of $749,750 reached in June.

There were 3,646 home sales in November — the lowest figure since February — as the number of homes on the market remained near record lows.

Steven Thomas, the founder of real estate tracker Reports on Housing, said limited inventory means hopeful buyers in San Diego County will continue to make offers above the asking price, driving up costs.

“It is not going to get easier anytime soon for buyers,” he said.

Thomas said it is unlikely the situation will get better in the next year with potential sellers keeping homes off the market for a variety of reasons: Rising COVID-19 cases, a lack of San Diego homes to move to if sellers decide to part with current properties.

He also said mortgage rates are anticipated to rise in 2022, which could put pressure on buyers to get into a home before rates tick up further.

So far, rising interest rates have not seemed to deter buyers. The interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.07 percent in November, reports Freddie Mac, up from 2.77 percent the year before. The rate is up from December 2020’s average of 2.68 percent, which was the lowest in records going back to 1971.

In November, 64.5% of homes were off the market in two weeks. That’s up from around 54 percent at the end of summer.

Reports on Housing said the quickest places for homes to sell are in Rancho Peñasquitos and San Carlos, where homes stay on the market an average of 11 days. That contrasts with downtown where homes stay on the market an average of 112 days.

Prices of all home types appeared to hold steady or exceed previous highs in November. The median of a resale single-family home was $820,500, down from the July peak of $840,000. Resale condos hit an all-time high of $590,000.

For newly built homes — including condos, townhouses and single-family — the median was $714,000. That is short of the record of $812,500 set in October 2018, which reflected an increase in luxury single-family homes for sale.

Price gains were almost universal across Southern California in November. Riverside County had the biggest annual gain of 20.2 percent for a median price of $546,750.

It was followed by San Bernardino County, up 18.8% in a year for a new peak of $475,000; San Diego County with the 15.4%  increase; Orange County, up 14.9% for a median of $919,000 (down $1,000 from peak); Ventura County, up 14.6% for a new peak of $755,000; and Los Angeles County, up 12.6% in a year for a median of $788,000, down $2,000 from its peak.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar