San Diego Real Estate Market 2026: Score 94, Home Sales Up 13.5%

San Diego scored as low as 72 out of 100 on the PropertyIQ index in August 2025. By February 2026, that score had climbed to 94.

That 22-point recovery in six months reflects a market where inventory has stayed tight, home sales have surged, and new listings are declining. The data tells a clearer story than the headlines.

PropertyIQ scores San Diego a 94 out of 100 as of February 28, 2026 - one of the highest scores of any major metro in the United States.

Current Market Conditions

The median listing price in San Diego is $899,950 as of February 1, 2026. The Zillow median home value is approximately $927,442 as of January 31, 2026.

Home values are down 5.27% year over year as of February 2026. That reading reflects the tail end of the correction from the 2021-2022 peak. Month over month, values were essentially flat in February, gaining 0.11%.

The five-year home value appreciation in San Diego is 14.79%, reflecting the full cycle of run-up and partial correction.

The Inventory Picture

San Diego has 4,133 homes for sale as of February 1, 2026. That is a structurally tight market for a metro of 3.3 million people.

Inventory is up 5.69% year over year, but new listings are declining 2.21% year over year. The supply overhang that accumulated in 2023-2024 is not being replenished at the same rate it is being absorbed.

Price per square foot is $603. Price cuts affect 13.65% of listings, the highest of the California major metros in this dataset.

Sale Velocity

San Diego homes are averaging 38 days on market as of February 2026, fast by any benchmark. For comparison, Tampa averages 80 days and Orlando averages 82 days.

Sellers are receiving 99.36% of their asking price as of November 2025. Home sales are up 13.5% year over year as of February 2026 - the strongest YOY sales growth of the California coastal metros.

The pending ratio is 0.5636: for every 100 active listings, 56 are under contract. That reading indicates strong absorption.

The Score Recovery Table

| Month | Score | |-------|-------| | August 2025 | 72 (low) | | September 2025 | 79 | | October 2025 | 82 | | November 2025 | 81 | | December 2025 | 86 | | January 2026 | 91 | | February 2026 | 94 |

The recovery from 72 to 94 in six months is one of the sharpest score turnarounds in the current dataset. The January-to-February gain of 3 points continued the upward trajectory.

San Diego vs Los Angeles

The two largest California coastal metros are running parallel recovery stories from their August 2025 lows. San Diego scored higher at the bottom (both hit 72) and has recovered faster.

Key differences as of February 2026:

| Metric | San Diego | Los Angeles | |--------|-----------|-------------| | PropertyIQ Score | 94 | 90 | | Active listings | 4,133 | 14,789 | | Pending ratio | 0.56 | 0.45 | | Days on market | 38 | 44 | | Home sales YOY | +13.5% | +2.06% | | Listing price | $899,950 | $1,054,400 |

San Diego's advantage is inventory tightness. Los Angeles is a much larger metro but has 3.6x more active listings. San Diego's supply score of 97.32 versus Los Angeles's 88.63 reflects that difference.

Affordability

San Diego requires an estimated household income of $239,203 to purchase a median-priced home as of February 2026. The metro median household income is $102,285 as of 2023 Census data.

The market is 152.6% overvalued relative to income fundamentals. Zillow forecasts 2.1% near-term price appreciation as of December 2025, the strongest forecast of the major California metros.

The homeownership rate is 54.51%, above Los Angeles's 48.57%.

Rental Market

The Zillow rent index for San Diego is $2,864 per month as of December 2025. That is nearly identical to Los Angeles's $2,895 despite San Diego's lower median home price. The income required to rent comfortably is approximately $114,550 annually.

The unemployment rate is 4.4% as of December 2025.

What a Score of 94 Means

A score of 94 places San Diego in the top tier of major U.S. metros by PropertyIQ measure. Markets that consistently score in the 90s share common characteristics: below-average days on market, declining or flat new listings, strong pending ratios, and sellers receiving close to full asking price.

San Diego meets all four criteria as of February 2026. The structural constraint - a coastal geography with limited buildable land - has historically prevented the kind of supply surges that deflate high scores in inland markets.

PropertyIQ score as of February 28, 2026. Listing and inventory data as of February 1, 2026. Zillow home value data as of January 31, 2026. Sale-to-list data as of November 30, 2025. Forecast data as of December 2025. Census data as of 2023. Economic data as of December 2025. All data for informational purposes only.