San Diego is Southern California at its most livable — a sun-drenched coastal city where craft breweries, world-class beaches, and a booming defense and biotech economy converge to create one of the most consistently desirable housing markets in the country. From the historic bungalows of North Park to the waterfront condos of Little Italy, the city’s neighborhoods offer something for nearly every lifestyle, which is exactly why demand here rarely disappears for long.
List prices fell sharply in May, but don’t mistake that for a wide-open market. Supply stayed tight, homes moved fast, and well-priced listings didn’t need price cuts — meaning buyers got a rare affordability window while sellers who priced right still held real leverage.
Inventory: More Homes Listed, But Choices Stayed Limited
If you’re hoping for a flood of new options, San Diego didn’t deliver one. Active listings slipped -1.3% year-over-year to 2,111 homes — even as the national inventory grew 2.2% over the same period. Yes, 1,124 new listings hit the market in May, up 5.6% from a year ago. But buyer demand absorbed that fresh supply quickly, keeping overall inventory nearly flat. For buyers today, that means limited selection. For sellers, it means you’re not competing against a dramatically deeper field.
Prices: A Real Drop — But From a Very High Baseline
Buyers today are entering a market that got meaningfully more affordable over the past year. The median listing price in San Diego fell -6.7% year-over-year to $839,450 in May — nearly three times the national decline of -2.4%. That’s a real shift. But San Diego is still roughly double the national median of $429,500, so this is a correction from an elevated peak, not a market in distress. Here’s the counterintuitive part: the share of sellers cutting prices actually shrank by 3.6 percentage points year-over-year. Sellers who listed at realistic prices didn’t need to chase the market down.
Time on Market: San Diego Homes Sold Faster Than the National Average
Decisive buyers had an edge in May — hesitation cost them. The median days on market held steady at 37 days, unchanged year-over-year, while homes nationally sat 2% longer than a year ago. That 37-day pace was 15 days faster than the national median of 52 days. Well-priced homes weren’t waiting around. If you’re buying now, acting quickly on the right listing still matters.
San Diego’s May data looked like a market finding its footing — not falling apart. Prices pulled back sharply, but tight supply and fast sales kept the underlying market competitive. Buyers today have a genuine affordability advantage compared to a year ago, but inventory isn’t flooding in and good homes moved in just over five weeks — so preparation still matters. Sellers need to price honestly. The drop in price-cut activity shows that realistic pricing worked in May. The 6.7% year-over-year decline is a clear signal that aspirational overpricing has real consequences now. Price it right, present it well, and San Diego’s enduring appeal does the rest…