San Diego Real Estate Market Finds Its Balance This Spring
San Diego’s housing market is showing renewed strength heading deeper into the spring season, with rising home prices, steady buyer demand, and inventory levels finally returning to more normalized conditions. After a year marked by fluctuating inventory and shifting market dynamics, recent trends suggest that the local market may be settling into a healthier and more sustainable rhythm.
While affordability challenges and mortgage rates continue to influence buyer behavior nationwide, San Diego remains one of California’s most resilient real estate markets. Strong demand, limited long-term housing supply, and desirable lifestyle factors continue to support home values throughout the county.
The San Diego market maintained strong pricing momentum this spring, with the median single-family home price reaching $1,050,000 in April. This reflects a 3.45% increase compared to the same time last year and marks the sixth straight month of year-over-year price growth.
Although prices have hovered near the same range for several months, the continued appreciation highlights the market’s resilience. Earlier in the year, annual price gains were relatively modest, but spring activity helped accelerate growth as buyer demand strengthened.
Part of this increase can be attributed to softer pricing comparisons from the previous year, but the bigger story is that San Diego continues to hold firm above the million-dollar threshold despite broader market uncertainty. This consistency reinforces the area's reputation as one of the most stable and desirable housing markets in the state.
For homeowners, this continued appreciation is encouraging news. For buyers, it’s another reminder that well-priced properties in desirable neighborhoods are still attracting strong interest.
One of the most notable shifts in the San Diego housing market is the normalization of inventory levels. For much of the past two years, active listings consistently ran above prior-year levels as more supply entered the market and buyer activity slowed.
That trend now appears to be leveling out.
In April, there were 5,001 active single-family home listings across San Diego County, essentially unchanged from the same time last year. This marks an important turning point after the sharp inventory swings experienced throughout 2025.
On a month-over-month basis, inventory rose by nearly 11%, which aligns with typical spring market behavior as more sellers list their homes ahead of the busy summer season. However, the fact that yearly inventory growth has flattened suggests the market may finally be reaching a healthier balance between supply and demand.
For buyers, this means more consistent inventory levels and a wider range of options compared to the extremely tight conditions seen in previous years. For sellers, it indicates that while competition exists, demand remains strong enough to support pricing and market activity.
Despite the increase in inventory, homes in San Diego are still moving at a relatively fast pace.
The median listing spent just 18 days on the market in March, only slightly higher than the 17-day average recorded during the same period last year. Compared to much of 2025 — when homes often took significantly longer to sell — this is a major sign of improving buyer activity.
What makes this especially notable is that homes are continuing to sell quickly even as more listings hit the market. This suggests that buyers are actively re-entering the market during the spring season and are prepared to move quickly when the right property becomes available.
Stable days on market also indicate that pricing expectations between buyers and sellers may be becoming more aligned. During periods of uncertainty, homes tend to linger longer as buyers negotiate more aggressively or hesitate altogether. That does not appear to be the case right now in many areas of San Diego.
The spring buying season has clearly brought renewed energy to the market, and demand remains healthy heading toward summer.
Another important indicator pointing to strengthening market conditions is the Months of Supply Inventory (MSI) metric, which measures how long it would take for current inventory to sell based on the existing pace of sales.
Historically, around three months of supply is considered a balanced market in California. Markets below that threshold tend to favor sellers, while higher supply levels generally favor buyers.
As of March, San Diego’s MSI dropped to 2.8 months of supply, pushing the market back into seller’s market territory. This represents a noticeable decline from earlier in the year, when the market briefly leaned more balanced or slightly buyer-friendly.
The decline in supply aligns closely with what we’re seeing across other metrics:
Home prices are rising
Inventory growth has stabilized
Homes are selling quickly
Buyer activity is strengthening
Together, these trends suggest that sellers may regain more leverage heading into the peak summer market, especially if demand continues to increase and inventory growth remains moderate.
For buyers, the current market presents both opportunities and challenges. Inventory is healthier than it was during the ultra-competitive years of the pandemic market, giving buyers more choices and slightly more room to negotiate. However, homes in desirable areas are still moving quickly, and prices continue to trend upward.
For sellers, market conditions remain favorable heading into the summer season. Strong buyer demand, stable pricing, and relatively limited supply continue to support competitive conditions for well-presented homes.
Looking ahead, much will depend on mortgage rate trends and overall economic conditions. If rates remain stable or begin to ease further, buyer activity could accelerate even more during the second half of the year.
For now, San Diego’s real estate market appears to be entering the summer season with solid momentum, balanced inventory conditions, and continued confidence from both buyers and sellers.
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