Real Estate Values in San Diego County
In this paper, I’m going to talk about what cities and areas of San Diego have higher real estate prices and higher incomes and why. Although the average home value in San Diego county is higher than most of the rest of the country, there is still a large spread in average home values. The average income in San Diego county is in the top ten percent in the country. Like home values, incomes vary greatly from place to place within the county, ranging from around $11,000 to around $110,000.
According to a survey done in 2009, a region dubbed “North County Coastal” is the most wealthy region of San Diego. this area extends from Del Mar to Oceanside. This is consistent with the general trend of coastal property being more desirable and therefore wealthy people living in them. However, Imperial Beach, while having coastal property, has both a low average income and home value relative to the rest of the county. Rancho Santa Fe is the wealthiest census designated place in San Diego. It is not located on the coast.
It is a part of the “North County Coastal” region. It is surrounded by other wealthy communities. The location alone is not enough to explain why Rancho Santa Fe is as an expensive of a place to live as it is. There are places like Chula Vista with comparable landscapes. The pattern of wealth distribution in San Diego County appears to be that wealthy communities are built around other wealthy communities. These places are found in a thin coastal strip in the northwest and west-central parts of the county.
This pattern could be extended to explain why this strip is situated closer to Orange County than it is to the Mexican border. Patterns of home value do not completely follow natural-physical desirability but are influenced by them. The places is San Diego County with the lowest home values are found in the far east county, outside of the San Diego Urban Area. The Two cities in San Diego county with the lowest home value are Borrego Springs and Campo. The lower value of these homes can be explained by their rural location.
The average home values in these cities are around $150,000 compared to over $1. 5 million in Rancho Santa Fe. The lowest income cities in the county include National City, El Cajon and Lemon grove. There is a strong parallel between high median incomes and high median home prices in San Diego county. That parallel does exist with low median incomes and median home values. The median home value in El Cajon is more than double the median home value in Borrego Springs even though the median income is higher in Borrego Springs.
This can be explained by the general higher cost of living in urban areas. What I have found in this project is that there are many factors contributing to where different income groups and home values are located. I also found that there are interests that intend to mislead. One survey, published in 2009 by the county of San Diego, gave home values and net worths that the fine print said were from 2005. It seams that some try to make things look better than they are and that others try to avoid being profiled.
These to factors were the biggest obstacles in researching for this project. “San Diego Metro Home Prices and Home Values in CA – Zillow Local Info. ” Zillow – Real Estate, Homes for Sale, Home Prices & Values. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. . “California Locations by per Capita Income. ” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. . “Formal and Fina San Diego Transfer of wealth study”-San Diego county http://www. energizingentrepreneurs. org/content/images/File/Formal%20and%20Final%20San%20Diego%20Transfer%20of%20wealth%20study-%20pdf. pdf
