San Diego Area Home Prices Rise 19.3% Over Past Year

Home prices in San Diego jumped 19.3 percent between June 2012 and the same month this year, one of the fastest climbs nationwide, according to the Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Housing Price Indices released Tuesday.

Housing costs in only four of the 20 cities tracked by S&P climbed faster on an annual basis.

The data showed San Diego's home prices also rose 2.8 percent from the month before.

The indices took housing prices in January 2000, assigned them a value of 100 and tracked their subsequent rise and fall.

San Diego's index in June stood at 184.57, reflecting a nearly 85 percent appreciation in housing values over nearly 14 years. Only Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., have outpaced San Diego during that time period.

The S&P 20-city index stood at 159.54 in June, up 2.2 percent from May and 12.1 percent higher than the same month last year.

"National home prices rose more than 10 percent annually in each of the last two quarters," said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "However, the monthly city-by-city data show the pace of price increases is moderating."

Thirteen of the cities saw slower monthly price hikes in June than the month before, which could be due to higher interest rates, he said.   

-- City News Service