Alright, while I see the benefit in income and employment rates as indicative of the relative health of the local economy, I am not sure about using these rates to directly measure the health of real estate. Eg: the economy vs. real estate in most of the 90’s.
Also, viewing SD county as a single monolithic market is a little like applying normal nationwide economic models to a national housing market. Don’t get me wrong. They do have some amount of marginal utility. However, its limited. Certainly it is better than defining it as, say, the “southern california” market. The housing market between say Temecula and La Jolla have little in common in any economic or real property category.
If you are looking to see the bottom I would recommend looking for some benchmarks based on market fundamentals.
One benchmark is price stability. Have a look at comparable closings over time.
Feb 401
Mar 517
April 428
May 415
June 477
July 390
These numbers are are the price per square foot of 2br units in 92101 that are between 700 and 1100 square feet in size.The numbers indicate a wide range and relative instability in that micro market.
Another benchmark to consider is the relative cost compared to rent. In distressed sections of central SD (eg: City Heights), one can buy with 5% cash and the rent will be more than mortgage. When buying is cheaper than renting, generally its a pretty good bet.
Yet another benchmark is the cost of construction. Some areas to the Northeast of town are curredntly selling for less than 175 per square foot (think Menifee). At that price it is often close to the price of construction.
While finding the absolute lowest price in a downturn is difficult and ill-advised (market timing in the boom did not work well either) these are some tricks I use. If you see all three benchmarks line up, probably prices are done falling for a while.
Again my opinion, but I have seen a lot of people new to investing have relative success with this.
