I think higher appreciation in the cheaper areas is due to them being the last affordable place. More first time buyers hurried over to the under $500K neighborhoods, until finally they were priced out there as well. There was just more demand in National City and Clairemont and El Cajon in the last 2 years, than any time before. It was the last place left for an entry level buyer to get a home. This high demand pushed up prices. Won’t these areas fall first? The reversal – kind of like taking numbers off a stack (in programming).
The dollar/percentage explanation doesn’t make sense. Prices move by demand/supply.
