The San Diego County median home price stayed at $570,000 in May, the same as it was last May, said real estate tracker CoreLogic.

Home prices reached a peak in August 2018 of $584,750 but the price mostly leveled off as sales started to decline. While the buying slump continues, there are some early signs the home market is picking up again.

There were 3,916 home sales in May, down 2.9 percent from the same time last year. That isn’t as high as the last 12 months when sales were down an average of 10 percent annually.

All of Southern California experienced a slow down in sales and price appreciation in May. The median home price in the six-county region rose 0.2 percent year over year.

Alan Gin, economist at the University of San Diego, said the slowdown has more to do with affordability constraints than interest rates — something many analysts originally attributed to the sales reduction.

“A lot of people are just priced out of the market at this point,” he said.

Months of declining sales have meant more homes on the market. There were 6,750 homes for sale in May, said the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors. That compares to 6,090 in May last year, and 5,060 in May 2017.

Interest rates were better for buyers in May than they were last year. The average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan was 4.07 percent, the lowest since January 2018.

Changes among housing types in May:

• Resale single-family: Median of $620,000, down from $630,000 in April. There were 2,475 homes sold, an increase of 155 homes from the previous month.
  
• Resale condos: Median of $435,000, up from $420,000 in April. There were 1,164 sales, up by 100 sales from the previous month.
  
• Newly built: Median of $581,000, down from $639,387 the previous month. The price includes condos and single-family homes. There were 277 new homes sold in May, up by 68 homes from the previous month.
  

Riverside County had the biggest annual home price increase, 3.3 percent, for a median of $392,000. It was followed by San Bernardino County, up 1.8 percent, for a median of $345,000 and Los Angeles County, up 1.7 percent for a median of $615,000.

In addition to San Diego County, Ventura County also had no annual increase. Its median was $590,000. Orange County was the only county with a reduction, dropping 2.6 percent for a median of $740,000.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar