San Diego home price gains slow compared to rest of U.S.

San Diego home prices are still rising but at the slowest rate in years.

In February, the San Diego metropolitan area’s home price increased 2.75% annually, said the S&P Case-Shiller Indices report released Tuesday. That’s the smallest increase since summer 2023 when rising mortgage rates sent a shiver through the market.

San Diego metro, which covers all of San Diego County, ranked 14th on the 20-city index for price gains — its lowest showing since May 2023. The highest gains in the index were the New York metro area, at 7.7%, Chicago at 6.95% and Cleveland at 6.58%.

Skylar Olsen, Zillow chief economist, said higher mortgage rates and economic uncertainty, evident in consumer confidence studies, are having downward pressure on prices.

“Home prices are increasingly untenable to potential homebuyers,” she said.

The interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan was 6.76% in the last week of February, said Freddie Mac. The rate was up to 6.81% this week.

The Case-Shiller Indices track repeat sales of identical single-family houses — and are seasonally adjusted — as they turn over through the years. The median single-family home price in San Diego County was $1 million in February, said Attom Data Solutions.

Price gains have largely slowed across the U.S., with a 3.9% nationwide annual gain, the index said. Nicholas Godec, head of fixed income, tradeables and commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said that home prices have shown resilience despite affordability challenges.

“Buyer demand has certainly cooled compared to the frenzied pace of prior years,” he wrote, “but limited housing supply continues to underpin prices in most markets. Rather than broad declines, we are seeing a slower, more sustainable pace of price growth.”

San Diego County’s home inventory has picked up, potentially limiting bidding wars that push up prices. There were roughly 4,260 homes listed for sale in February, said the Redfin Data Center, up from a low point of 3,200 last year. In the last four weeks, Redfin said there were about 5,000 homes for sale in San Diego County.

Zillow said last week it predicted home values to drop 1.9% by the end of the year, but past forecasts were the opposite. JP Morgan Research said in February it predicted house prices to rise 3% this year, and 13 out of 14 members of The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Econometer panel in December (made up of business leaders and economists) forecasted rising prices for 2025. Some change may be expected as the Trump administration’s worldwide tariffs have added to economic uncertainty.

Tampa, Fla., continues to be the only metro area on the Case-Shiller index with dropping prices, down 1.5% in a year. Other sluggish metros were Dallas, up 0.89%, and Denver, up 1.59%.

Annual price growth by metropolitan area

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, February 2025

New York: 7.70%Chicago: 6.95%Cleveland: 6.58%Boston: 5.91%Detroit: 5.76%Seattle: 4.95%Las Vegas: 4.90%Washington, D.C.: 4.57%Los Angeles-Anaheim: 4.45%Charlotte: 3.11%San Francisco: 3.08%Minneapolis: 3.05%Miami: 2.93%San Diego: 2.75%Atlanta: 2.49%Phoenix: 2.32%Portland: 2.08%Denver: 1.59%Dallas: 0.89%Tampa: -1.46%

Nationwide: 3.87%