Rancho Santa Fe housing market

The Rancho Santa Fe housing market, a high-end residential portion of the larger San Diego real estate market, saw several positive signs in the most recent tracking periods. Foreclosures are at their lowest level in years, and the median value of properties in the region has risen once again. According to an August 9, 2010 report from the San Diego Union Tribune, “Home values in San Diego County were up 7.3 percent in the second quarter from a year ago -- the biggest increase of the country's 25 largest metro areas -- says real estate website Zillow.com in a recent survey. Nationwide home values fell 3.2 percent for the same time period, with values declining on year-over-year basis in 99 of the 144 markets studied. The Seattle-based company comes up with its home-value index by looking not only at homes that have sold but also at pending sales as well as homes that are currently not on the market. In San Diego County, the median home value rose to $378,800 in the second quarter.”

There are also fewer distressed properties among Rancho Santa Fe homes for sale, thanks largely to a continuing decline in the number of foreclosures. A July 21, 2010 report also from the San Diego Union Tribune noted that “San Diego County had fewer mortgage defaults and foreclosures in the second quarter than it has had in the past three years, according to a report released today by MDA DataQuick, a real-estate research firm based in La Jolla. Countywide, 5,458 homes went into default during the second quarter, a 45 percent drop from the total of 9,866 during the same period of last year. That’s the lowest number since the second quarter of 2007, just as the county was slipping into recession. Foreclosures dropped 6 percent from 3,518 in the second quarter of 2009 to 3,315. The same trend is showing up throughout California, with the number of defaults dropping for five consecutive months, resulting in a 44 percent year-to-year drop. Foreclosures, however, rose by 4 percent, driven partly by jumps in relatively pricy neighborhoods in Orange County, San Mateo, Marin, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Francisco counties.”