San Diego County’s median home price hit its highest price in history in July, $579,750, while sales hit a four-year low, real estate tracker CoreLogic reported.

The previous record was $575,000 in May. Home prices have been breaking records on nearly a month-to-month basis all year. As of July, home prices had increased 8 percent in a year — the most of any Southern California county.

But Home sales hit its lowest point in 4 years in July with 3,607 sales. The last time sales were that low was July 2014, when the county was still coming out of the housing bust, when there were 3,530 sales.

Affordability constraints for many potential buyers could be the reason why sales are so low despite more homes on the market, said CoreLogic analyst Andrew LePage in the monthly report.

“The overall trend in recent months has been toward more listings,” he wrote, “suggesting that sales also remain weak relative to current housing demand because more and more would-be buyers are unable or unwilling to buy.”

Home inventory has increased in recent months, said data from the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors. There were 7,613 homes listed for sale in July, up from July 2016 when 5,828 homes were for sale.

In July, resale single-family homes tied the peak median of $630,000 reached in June with 2,314 sales. Resale condos hit their highest ever median of $432,000 with 1,080 sales. The median for newly built homes was $703,750, but was limited to 213 sales.

Investors are still finding value in the San Diego market. Absentee buyers, typically investors who don’t intend on living in the home as a primary residence, made up 20.1 percent of sales in July, up from 19.4 percent of sales at the same time last year.

When adjusting for inflation, San Diego County’s home price has still not reached its pre-housing crash price. In November 2005, the median hit $517,500, which would be nearly $660,000 today.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar