San Diego County home sales have picked up after a dismal few months.

There were 2,132 sales in February, up 27.1 percent from January, said CoreLogic data, which was tied for the lowest-ever sales month in records going back to 1988. February’s numbers mark the most sales in a month going back to August.

At the same time, the median home price rose to $825,000, up from $802,500 the previous month, for an annual increase of 10 percent.

Real estate agents said the biggest change was an increase in homes for sale, which were snapped up by eager buyers. There were roughly 3,300 homes for sale in February, up from around 3,000 at the start of the year. While not a huge boost in inventory, it appears to be a trend that continued into March.

“There’s now more inventory and listing calls,” said local agent Jan Ryan. “Sales were down in January because inventory was so low.”

Ryan said she has seen several sellers in recent months decide to move out of state to follow children who left to start families in less expensive parts of the country. That has freed up homes for buyers who had been looking for months. Also, she said some buyers and sellers are getting used to higher interest rates.

While recent sales are an improvement, slightly more than 2,000 home sales isn’t necessarily a large amount. It still ranks as the 16th lowest sales month of all time and down from recent years. For instance, there were 3,231 home sales in February 2021 and 2,885 sales in February 2022. This February’s numbers may have benefited from one extra day because it is a leap year.

Mark Goldman, a San Diego real estate analyst, said he’s seen fewer buyers under the illusion that mortgage rates would fall soon after they bought their home. That was a hope some buyers had when rates started increasing in 2022 and that they could just refinance in a few months when rates went back to 2021 levels.

“There’s less of an expectation of that now,” Goldman said. “Of course, people can refinance if rates go lower but how much lower are they going to go? Fewer and fewer people expect a large drop in rates.”

Even with higher mortgage rates, local homes are selling more quickly than they were at this time last year. The median days on market was around 15 days for a San Diego County home in February. That was down from 21 days at the same time last year.

Here’s how different home types fared in February:

• Resale single-family: Median of $940,000 with 1,259 sales. Down from its peak of $956,000 in August.
  
• Resale condo: Median of $683,000 with 713 sales, which is now a new sales peak.
  
• Newly built: Median of $731,500 with 107 sales. This figure combines single-family homes, townhouses and condos. It was down from a peak of $1.2 million in July, when there was an influx of newly built single-family homes, lifting the median higher.

The California Association of Realtors recently reported the San Diego County resale single-family home price neared $1 million in February at $980,000, which garnered considerable media attention. However, that figure only includes all homes sold by a real estate agent. CoreLogic looks at all sales in the county, regardless of where the property was listed, and takes longer to process than Realtor reports. Typically, about 4 to 5 percent of county homes in a given month are sold without a real estate agent and, usually, sell for less.

All markets in Southern California saw price increases in February. Here’s a look at the median prices — the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less — across the region:

Los Angeles County: Up 5.6 percent in a month for a median of $845,000; Annual increase of 10.5 percent.

Orange County: Monthly rise of 4.3 percent for a median of $1.1 million; Up 16.8 percent annually.

Riverside County: Up 3.2 percent in a month for a median of $567,500; Annual increase of 5.1 percent.

San Bernardino County: Up 3.2 percent in a month for a median of $490,000; Up 4.3 percent in a year.

San Diego County: Up 2.8 percent in a month to a median of $825,000; Annual increase of 10 percent.

Ventura County: Up 3.1 percent monthly to a median of $823,500; Up 11.3 percent in a year.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar