Community Corner

Report: Luxury Costs a Little Less in San Diego

Luxury homes cost less in the San Diego area market than in San Francisco or Los Angeles, and prices have dropped recently.

The price of a luxury home in the San Diego area market declined by 1.4 percent in 2012 despite gains in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, according to a survey released Tuesday by First Republic Bank.

The median price of a luxury home in San Diego was $1.64 million, according to First Republic's Prestige Home Index. The bank cited comments by real estate agents who said the holidays caused a slowdown in the San Diego market, but that interest has picked up early this year.

The San Diego market includes properties in San Diego, Carlsbad, Coronado, Del Mar, Encinitas, La Jolla, La Mesa, Poway, Rancho Santa Fe and Solana Beach.

Find out what's happening in Rancho Bernardo-4s Ranchwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

By comparison, the report said the cost of extravagant homes in San Francisco rose 8.4 percent to $2.73 million, with a jump of 4.4 percent in Los Angeles to $2.06 million.

"Growing demand from buyers, low mortgage rates and a lack of inventory continued to put upward pressure on values," said Katherine August-deWilde, the bank's president and CEO. "Multiple offers are common in many high-end neighborhoods as buyers compete for a small number of attractive properties."

Find out what's happening in Rancho Bernardo-4s Ranchwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The big increases in San Francisco and Los Angeles were mostly the result of low inventory, according to the report.

The report defines luxury homes as those with a value of at least $1 million, with common features including: 3,000 to 6,000 square feet, three to six bedrooms and three to six bathrooms.

-City News Service


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