San Diego County’s median home price was $750,000 in February, according to CoreLogic data, down 2.6 percent from the same time last year. It’s the first time in more than three years that the annual price went down. It also marked the ninth month in a row of price declines.

Rising borrowing costs have slowly eaten away at the median home price — the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less — which hit a peak of $850,000 in May. The median includes resale single-family, condos, townhouses and newly built homes.

There were signs the home market in February was picking up slightly: There were 1,958 home sales, up from January’s record low of 1,682. Also, the resale condo and single-family home prices were up but weighed down by a big drop in the newly built price.

Mark Goldman, a real estate analyst, said prices seemed to be entirely a reflection of interest rates — not some other financial shock, like high unemployment. He said it’s unlikely interest rates will go back to the lows of 2020 but, at least, some decrease may kick-start the market.

“I don’t think we’ll see interest rates under 3 percent in my lifetime again,” Goldman said. “We’ve had many, many years of extraordinarily low-interest rates and I think those days are gone.”

The interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.5 percent in the last week of February, said Freddie Mac, up from 3.89 percent the year before.

A local real estate agent based in Ramona said in recent weeks that buyers have been showing up with more frequency and making offers. The agent said that it seemed that buyers were adjusting to a higher interest rate environment.

On March 3, the Ramona agent put a 2,400-square-foot single-family house on the market for $729,000 and got four offers — two under, two above — and ended up closing for $775,000.

Another factor pushing the market, despite higher interest rates, is the lack of inventory as many potential sellers are still hesitant to put homes up for sale. In some cases, she said the tight inventory has made buyers more competitive.

There were 3,092 homes for sale from Jan. 3 to Feb. 26. There were nearly 6,000 homes on the market in August last year, but that figure has continued to drop each month.

Here’s how the different home times fared in February:

• Resale single-family: Median of $850,000, with 1,145 sales, up from $820,000 last month. Down from its peak of $950,000 in April.
  
• Resale condo: Median of $625,000, with 598 sales, up from $600,000 last month. Down from its peak of $663,000 in May.
  
• Newly built: Median of $777,000, with 174 sales, down from $849,500 last month. This figure combines single-family homes, townhouses and condos. It is down from the peak of $890,500 in August.
  

While buyers of homes at this time in 2022 might have a home that is worth slightly less today, they did lock in a much lower interest rate, which makes monthly payments significantly lower.

If you bought a home with recent interest rates at February’s median home price of $750,000, the monthly price would be around $4,075 — assuming a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with 20 percent down. That’s up from $3,109 a month from last year when the interest rate was around 3.89 percent.

Here’s a look at the median prices across Southern Californian markets for February:

Los Angeles County: Monthly rise of 0.3% to $765,000; down 4.4% for the year.

Orange County: Monthly rise of 0.8% to $957,750; down 2.3% for the year.

Riverside County: Monthly rise of 0.1% to $540,000; down 1.8% for the year.

San Bernardino County: Monthly rise of 5.6% to $475,000; up 2.2% for the year.

San Diego County: Monthly drop of 0.1% to $750,000; down 2.6% for the year.

Ventura County: Monthly rise of 0.7% to $690,000; down 2% for the year.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar