San Diego County’s median home price hit a record high of $590,000 in June despite declining sales, according to real estate tracker CoreLogic.

In a sign of a gradual cooling of the housing market, there were just 3,641 home sales in June, the lowest for that month in eight years.

Despite the new record median, price appreciation in San Diego County is slowing — 2.6 percent year over year in June.

Home sales have now been down across Southern California for 11 consecutive months with most areas showing small annual price gains. Analysts say while fewer people may be able to buy because of affordability constraints, it hasn’t stopped competition in a tight market from pushing up prices.

Mark Goldman, an analyst with C2 Financial Corp., said home price gains have slowed compared to past years but there’s still too few homes for sale to actually stop prices from going up.

“You have a lot of buyers competing for a small number of properties,” he said.

There were 7,066 homes for sale in June, said the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors. That’s more than the 6,413 for sale in June last year and 5,655 in June 2017.

Most home types in San Diego County reached new price peaks despite declining sales. The resale single-family home median was $649,000 in June, up from the previous peak of $630,000 in April. The resale condo median was $437,000, up from the previous high of $435,000 in May.

Andrew LePage, CoreLogic analyst, wrote in Friday’s report that despite a healthy economy, the market seemed to suggest many would-be buyers remained priced out, or just concerned about buying near a possible peak.

“Southern California home prices have been close to flat all year,” LePage wrote, “with the median sale price up or down a hair each month compared with a year earlier.”

Days on the market for homes throughout the county has increased to 32 days on average in June, up from 28 at the same time last year, said the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors.

In Southern California, Orange County was still the most expensive place to buy in June, with a $738,000 median home price. It is followed by Los Angeles County with a $618,000 median; San Diego County, $590,000; Ventura County, $580,000; Riverside County, $399,000; and San Bernardino County, $340,000.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar