Average home appreciates 29.89% in 2004

Homeowners and other real property investors in the Fallbrook area enjoyed another year of greatly increased property values in 2004, evidenced by the year-end report prepared by SANDICOR, the San Diego County Multiple Listing Service.

The average sales price of a home in the Fallbrook area (92028 zip code) increased 29.89 percent in 2004 to $608,805 from the 2003 average of $468,714. The 2004 median price was calculated at $535,000. An average of 60 homes were sold each month during 2004, an increase of 4.30 percent over 2003. While the interest rates escalated during the last quarter of 2004, they have now dropped back down.

“Right now buyers are using smaller down payments to take advantage of the low interest rates,” said Chris Hasvold, managing broker/owner of Coldwell Banker Landmark Group.

The average price of a lot/land was reported as $352,659 in 2004 with a median price of $275,000. Compared to 2003 average of $227,135, this represents a 55.26 percentage increase. The sale of lots/land decreased by 10.43% in 2004 over 2003 numbers.

“Lots are relatively scarce for good, buildable properties,” Hasvold explained. “There are very few new lots being created. What is happening though is that there are fewer specs (houses built on speculation) being built because the prices are so high for the land; the finished product needs to sell for over $1 million to pencil out and that market isn’t the strongest right now.”

“There seems to be a balance in the supply/demand ratio now, given the current prices,” Hasvold said. “Obviously there would be more demand if the prices were to drop. For most buyers right now, the cost to build a new home is quite a bit higher than to buy an existing home so that’s why you see a drop in the number of lots sold.

The Bonsall (92003) real estate market showed strong increases as well. The average sale price of a home in Bonsall reached $759,876 – a 14.77 percentage increase over the 2003 average of $662,073. The median price was $679,900 – versus $535,000 in 2003.