New Home Source San Diego (2024)

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Who can afford a home in San Diego? ›

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) – There are seven metropolitan areas in the U.S. where a household must make at least $200,000 to comfortably afford buying a home, and San Diego is in the top four. According to a recent study by Zillow, people looking to buy a home in San Diego need to have an income of at least $273,613.

San Diego's median sale price is 132% higher than the national average. Overall cost of living in San Diego is 43% higher than the national average. Learn which home features in San Diego add value to a home.

San Diego County built more housing in 2023 than it did in any of the past 17 years. Last year, 11,673 building permits were pulled across the county, a 21 percent increase from 2022, said the Construction Industry Research Board.

In 2021, the City launched an initiative called Homes for All of Us to help produce more homes that San Diegans of all income levels can afford. The initiative includes three components: a new community plan update framework called Blueprint San Diego.

The site used U.S. Census Bureau income data to determine the salary a household needs to earn to be in the city's top 20% of earners – what they define as “rich.” In San Diego, you'll need to earn $157,252 or more to be considered a “rich” person in the top 20% of the city's 1.4 million residents.

Analysis shows the median sale price for homes in San Diego has seen a notable increase. Median Sale Price: $925,000 as of January 2024, indicating a resilient market trajectory. Year-Over-Year Gain: Approximately 12.1%, reflecting sustained growth.

In September 2023, the median home price in San Diego, CA dropped from $930,000 to $887,500. In Q4 of 2022, it declined by 6.54%. Also, a total of 50.1% of homes sold for less than the listing price in San Diego. These factors show that the last quarter of the year can be good for buyers in San Diego.

According to the recently released study, the most expensive, or as researchers call it, the most "impossibly unaffordable" market was Hong Kong, followed by Sydney, Australia, then Vancouver, and San Jose. San Diego was ranked tenth, just behind San Francisco and Adelaide, Australia.

Will rents in San Diego go down? ›

Currently, the overall median rent in the city stands at $2,333, roughly the same as last month. Prices remain down 3.0% year-over-year. Read on to learn more about what's been happening in the San Diego rental market and how it compares to trends throughout the broader San Diego metro area and the nation as a whole.

San Diego ranked No. 1 as the most expensive city in the nation to live, according to a 2023-2024 U.S. News analysis of the 150 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. Yet many residents say they're happy to pay the added expense to live there, even referring to the higher cost of living as the “sunshine tax.”

Homes in San Diego have sold for 9% more than they did a year ago. Summary: The median home sold price in San Diego was $929,895 in June 2024, up 9% from last year, and the median price per square foot was $691.

The Affordable Housing Assistance Programs are managed on behalf of the City by the San Diego Housing Commission. The Housing Commission provides assistance to first-time homebuyers, housing developers, low-income homeowners and renters.

Families in the RRH program work with a Housing Specialist on any barriers that might prevent them from renting an apartment, such as poor credit scores, evictions or any unpaid rent. A Housing Specialist will help residents locate potential landlords once they are ready to rent.

Eligibility. You must be a low-income family, a low-income senior citizen (62 years of age or older), or a disabled person.

The report also showed San Diego was among the cities with homebuyers making median down payments of about 20% of the purchase price. Data showed the median down payment on a home in San Diego was $152,000 in February — 49.8% from the same month last year.

San Diego is among seven major metro markets where a household's income must exceed $200,000 to comfortably afford a typical home, according to new research. The top four are in California, Zillow found: San Jose ($454,296), San Francisco ($339,864), Los Angeles ($279,250) and San Diego ($273,613).

While ZipRecruiter is seeing salaries as high as $110,852 and as low as $20,528, the majority of salaries within the Upper Class jobs category currently range between $40,029 (25th percentile) to $69,795 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $88,271 annually in San Diego.