San Diego home prices continue to show gains, but any increase has been blunted by rising inflation, data released Tuesday shows

The San Diego metropolitan area’s home price increased 0.78% annually in March, said the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Indices report. At the same time, San Diego metro, which includes all of San Diego County, had an inflation rate of 3.2%

The region isn’t alone in this scenario: New homeowners nationwide are likely feeling the pinch.

“With consumer inflation accelerating to roughly 3.3% in March,” said Nicholas Godec, of the S&P Dow Jones Indices, “U.S. home values have now fallen in real terms for the 10th consecutive month, underscoring an ongoing erosion of inflation-adjusted housing wealth.”

San Diego County home price gains have been below inflation for 16 months, much longer than the rest of U.S. Inflation typically runs hotter in Southern California, most frequently attributed to higher gasoline and housing costs.

Still, home prices continue to rise in San Diego County. It was one of only nine regions in the closely watched 19-city index to see gains.

Chicago has bucked the trend of markets on the decline, with prices up 6.09% in a year. It was followed by New York, up 4.02%; Cleveland, up 2.99%; and Boston, up 2.05%. The weakest markets were Seattle, down 2.5%, and Denver, down 1.95%. Detroit data was missing because of transaction delays from Wayne County, the most populous county in that metro area.

The Case-Shiller index tracks repeat sales of identical single-family houses — and is seasonally adjusted — as they turn over through the years. It uses a three-month rolling average and is often seen as a bellwether of the economy as a whole.

San Diego County’s median home price for single-family homes in March was $1 million, according to Attom Data Solutions. The median is the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less.

Anthony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com, said that markets with few homes for sale — like San Diego — are likely to continue to have price gains.

“In supply-constrained markets price growth is likely to hold even as the national picture continues to cool,” Smith wrote in his analysis of the most recent data.

There were 2,628 new San Diego County homes listed for sale in March, according to the Redfin Data Center, down from 2,725 at the same time last year.

Smith said that mortgage rates will be a headwind into the typically busy spring and summer buying season. The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate was 6.38% at the end of March, said Freddie Mac, and was up to 6.51% at the end of last week. Average rates hit a low of 5.98% in late February before the start of the Iran conflict.

Annual price growth by metropolitan area

S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index, March 2026

Chicago: 6.09%

New York: 4.02%

Cleveland: 2.99%

Boston: 2.05%

Minneapolis: 1.79%

Miami: 1.17%

Charlotte: 0.93%

San Diego: 0.78%

San Francisco: 0.60%

Washington, D.C.: -0.13%

Atlanta: -0.46%

Portland, Ore.: -0.85%

Las Vegas: -1.27%

Los Angeles-Anaheim: -1.60%

Phoenix: -1.63%

Dallas: -1.71%

Tampa: -1.93%

Denver: -1.95%

Seattle: -2.50%

Detroit: N/A

National: 0.67%

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