In Downtown, Concentrated Housing Trouble
If the rate of new condo sales in downtown San Diego continues the way it did in the first half of 2008, it would take five years and three months to sell all of the new units in the city core, according to recent sales counts from MarketPointe Realty Advisors, a local real estate industry consulting firm. That’s about five times as long as the absorption rate for all of the new homes constructed around the county.
“That’s not a good number, but these are not good sales times,” said Robert Martinez, director of research at MarketPointe.
There are 889 finished condos available for sale in downtown San Diego, according to MarketPointe. That doesn’t count units in some projects that have been pulled from the shelf and rented out until the market improves. Another 705 units that are under construction remain unsold or uncommitted to a buyer with a reservation.