San Diego County’s housing market picked up in July with sales rising 10.1 percent from a year ago as the median home price stayed flat, real estate tracker CoreLogic reported.

The $580,000 median home price in July, showing no gain from the year before, was down from the all-time high of $590,000 the previous month.

Even with flat home prices, there was a shift in the market that may show lower mortgage interest rates are having an affect. There were 3,988 home sales in July, up by 365 from the same time last year. It was the first time in 14 months that there were more sales than the year before.

It was a similar phenomenon of rising sales throughout Southern California, which had the highest sales for a July in four years.

Some potential buyers have become more eager because of lower mortgage rates, and some have even upgraded their plans.

The interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.7 percent in July, said Freddie Mac, down from 4.5 percent from the year before. That means the monthly cost for a median priced home in San Diego County, assuming 20 percent down, had decreased by roughly $215 in a year.

Mortgage applications have seen an uptick with lowering interest rates, especially with refinance loans.

July’s increase in sales could be seen as largely influenced by mortgage rates, wrote CoreLogic data analyst Andrew LePage, but also because of a healthy job market, income growth and a rise in home inventory.

Here is how the San Diego market fared by home type in July:

• Resale single-family homes: The median price was $629,000, down from the peak of $649,000 reached last month. There were 2,515 sales, 195 fewer than July 2018.
  
• Resale condos: The median price was $435,000, down from the peak of $437,000 last month. There were 1,117 home sales, 34 more from the same time last year.
  
• Newly built homes: The median was $701,250, down from the all-time high of $812,500 reached in October 2018. There were 365 home sales, up by 136 from the same time last year.

The overall median in Southern California was up 1.9 percent in a year to $540,000.

Los Angeles County had the biggest jump, 5 percent, to a median of $635,000. It was followed by San Bernardino County, up 4.6 percent to a median of $340,000; Riverside County, up 2.9 percent to a median of $395,000; San Diego and Ventura counties with no change, with medians of $580,000 and $595,000, respectively; and Orange County down 0.8 percent to a median of $729,000.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar