San Diego Home Prices by City: What Homes Actually Sold For (August 2026)

Updated October 2026 · Sold data for August 2026 · Market data as of September 29, 2026

Overview

The median San Diego County home sold for $950,000 in August, and it sold for exactly 100.0% of its asking price.

That second number is the one worth holding onto. In a market where expected market time just hit 111 days — the slowest reading since January 2019 — homes that are priced correctly are still closing at full ask. The slowdown is in how many homes trade, not what they trade for.

1,955 homes closed in August, down 6% from the 2,086 that closed in August 2025 and down 12% from July. Fewer transactions, same prices.

This page breaks down what homes actually sold for in more than 60 San Diego communities — median sale price, price per square foot, how long they took, and how many changed hands compared with a year ago.

Related: San Diego housing market update · What's driving buyer demand

The countywide numbers

• Median sale price: $950,000
• Median list price: $959,000
• Sales-to-list ratio: 100.0%
• Median price per square foot: $582
• Median size: 1,633 sqft
• Median days on market: 19
• Homes closed in August: 1,955 (2,086 in August 2025, −6%)
• Range: $75,000 to $17,340,000

Why price per square foot is the better comparison

A median sale price tells you what a typical home cost in a given city. It does not tell you whether that city is expensive — because the typical home is a different size everywhere.

Mission Valley's median sale was $465,000, the lowest of any urban submarket in the county. That sounds like a bargain until you see the median size: 894 square feet. At $520 per square foot, it is not cheap at all — it is simply small, because it is largely a condo market.

North Park's median sale was $890,000 on 882 square feet — $1,009 per square foot, which is more expensive by the foot than La Jolla, Carlsbad or Point Loma.

So read both numbers. The median tells you the cost of entry. The per-foot figure tells you the cost of space.

The countywide spread runs about eight to one. Borrego Springs sold at $191 per square foot in August. Cardiff by the Sea sold at $1,576.

Related: San Diego condos vs. detached homes · What your income actually affords

The luxury coast — $2 million and up

• Rancho Santa Fe — $4,880,000 median · $909/sqft · 51 days · 15 sold
• Del Mar — $3,635,000 · $1,410/sqft · 13 days · 20 sold
• Cardiff by the Sea — $2,840,000 · $1,576/sqft · 33 days · 7 sold
• Coronado — $2,730,000 · $1,571/sqft · 28 days · 26 sold
• La Jolla — $2,165,000 · $1,109/sqft · 26 days · 42 sold
• Encinitas — $2,002,000 · $970/sqft · 17 days · 40 sold
• Santaluz — $2,000,000 · $730/sqft · 26 days · 43 sold

Cardiff is the most expensive square footage in the county, narrowly ahead of Coronado — and it only took seven sales to establish that, which is worth remembering before treating it as a trend.

The notable one here is Del Mar at 13 days. The county's second-most-expensive market moved faster in August than most of the mid-market did. Rancho Santa Fe, by contrast, took 51 days and closed at 95.8% of asking — the weakest ratio of any high-volume market in the county.

Related: La Jolla vs. Coronado · La Jolla vs. Del Mar · La Jolla vs. Rancho Santa Fe · San Diego luxury home market

The coastal and premium tier — $1.5M to $2M

• Solana Beach — $1,950,000 · $1,224/sqft · 25 days · 15 sold
• Carmel Valley — $1,835,000 · $852/sqft · 20 days · 30 sold
• Point Loma — $1,739,950 · $901/sqft · 18 days · 16 sold
• Pacific Beach / Mission Beach — $1,550,000 · $1,194/sqft · 17 days · 35 sold

Related: Pacific Beach vs. La Jolla · Mission Beach vs. Pacific Beach · Ocean Beach vs. Point Loma

The upper-middle tier — $1M to $1.5M

• Carlsbad — $1,374,000 · $706/sqft · 29 days · 114 sold (up from 95)
• Scripps Ranch — $1,354,500 · $707/sqft · 12 days · 24 sold
• Rancho Peñasquitos — $1,320,000 · $674/sqft · 9 days · 29 sold
• Ocean Beach — $1,264,000 · $1,162/sqft · 10 days · 15 sold
• Old Town — $1,254,950 · $743/sqft · 17 days · 20 sold
• Clairemont — $1,155,000 · $795/sqft · 12 days · 47 sold
• Poway — $1,155,000 · $619/sqft · 17 days · 30 sold
• Alpine — $1,150,000 · $479/sqft · 19 days · 17 sold
• Jamul — $1,105,000 · $394/sqft · 45 days · 7 sold
• Bonita — $1,095,000 · $497/sqft · 35 days · 9 sold
• Rancho Bernardo — $1,070,000 · $636/sqft · 14 days · 51 sold
• Valley Center — $1,062,000 · $360/sqft · 29 days · 13 sold
• San Marcos — $1,045,000 · $582/sqft · 18 days · 72 sold
• Mira Mesa — $1,021,000 · $692/sqft · 14 days · 34 sold
• San Carlos — $1,000,000 · $637/sqft · 13 days · 23 sold

Rancho Peñasquitos at nine days was the fastest market in the county in August. Scripps Ranch, Clairemont, San Carlos and Rancho Bernardo were all under two weeks. This band — roughly $1M to $1.4M — is where San Diego is currently moving quickest, and the countywide market-time data agrees: the $1.25M–$1.5M bracket is the fastest in the county at 81 days.

Carlsbad is the outlier on volume. It closed 114 sales in August against 95 a year ago, a 20% increase in a county where transactions fell 6% overall.

The middle — $750k to $1M

• Del Cerro — $990,000 · $590/sqft · 15 days · 33 sold
• San Diego (citywide) — $980,000 · $675/sqft · 16 days · 735 sold
• Mission Hills / Hillcrest — $977,500 · $831/sqft · 21 days · 28 sold
• Normal Heights — $950,500 · $993/sqft · 13 days · 22 sold
• Vista — $920,000 · $472/sqft · 22 days · 69 sold
• Tierrasanta — $908,568 · $551/sqft · 16 days · 24 sold (up from 11)
• Bonsall — $903,807 · $509/sqft · 20 days · 4 sold
• North Park — $890,000 · $1,009/sqft · 17 days · 18 sold
• Oceanside — $880,000 · $586/sqft · 31 days · 129 sold
• Fallbrook — $875,000 · $382/sqft · 40 days · 48 sold
• Linda Vista — $855,000 · $668/sqft · 22 days · 14 sold
• La Mesa — $850,000 · $594/sqft · 13 days · 43 sold
• Chula Vista — $844,500 · $506/sqft · 16 days · 120 sold
• Ramona — $842,500 · $383/sqft · 19 days · 30 sold
• Escondido — $836,250 · $517/sqft · 20 days · 112 sold
• Imperial Beach — $833,750 · $637/sqft · 13 days · 10 sold
• Lakeside — $830,000 · $475/sqft · 25 days · 17 sold
• Spring Valley — $790,000 · $541/sqft · 25 days · 28 sold
• National City — $787,500 · $670/sqft · 15 days · 8 sold
• Encanto — $775,000 · $543/sqft · 16 days · 17 sold
• Paradise Hills — $770,000 · $615/sqft · 14 days · 8 sold
• Santee — $770,000 · $531/sqft · 15 days · 50 sold
• El Cajon — $761,000 · $476/sqft · 17 days · 76 sold

Normal Heights and North Park are the story in this tier. Both sold at roughly a thousand dollars a square foot — more expensive by the foot than Carlsbad, Point Loma or Carmel Valley — on median homes under 1,000 square feet. Small, old, central, and priced accordingly.

Tierrasanta more than doubled its volume, 24 sales against 11 a year ago.

The entry level — under $750k

• Otay Mesa — $720,000 · $452/sqft · 13 days · 35 sold
• Lemon Grove — $710,000 · $597/sqft · 18 days · 10 sold
• San Ysidro — $702,000 · $367/sqft · 43 days · 1 sold
• City Heights — $685,000 · $572/sqft · 21 days · 13 sold
• Downtown — $675,000 · $630/sqft · 46 days · 43 sold
• University City — $675,000 · $563/sqft · 13 days · 27 sold
• Julian — $607,500 · $558/sqft · 52 days · 7 sold
• Mission Valley — $465,000 · $520/sqft · 31 days · 29 sold
• Campo — $440,000 · $325/sqft · 16 days · 3 sold
• Borrego Springs — $311,250 · $191/sqft · 76 days · 6 sold

Downtown is the slow one here at 46 days, and that is consistent with the broader attached-market picture: condos countywide are now at 144 days of expected market time against 103 for detached homes.

Borrego Springs is the cheapest square footage in San Diego County by a wide margin, and the 76-day median says why — it is a small desert market with thin demand.

The surprise: the cheapest markets had the strongest ratios

Here is something the headline figures hide.

The entry level has the slowest expected market time in the county — 126 days for everything under $750,000, against 81 days in the $1.25M–$1.5M band. By that measure it is the hardest place to sell.

And yet the highest sales-to-list ratios in August were almost all in affordable communities:

• Lemon Grove — 103.6%
• San Carlos — 101.0%
• San Ysidro — 101.0%
• Otay Mesa — 100.9%
• City Heights — 100.6%
• Encanto — 100.5%

Those are homes closing above asking.

Both things are true, and the explanation is that the bottom of the market is the most bifurcated part of it. Buyers there are the most rate-sensitive in the county, so the pool is thin — but the homes that are priced correctly meet real competition from the buyers who do qualify, and they go over list. Everything else sits, which is what drags the band's average market time to 126 days.

At the other end, Rancho Santa Fe closed at 95.8% and Borrego Springs at 95.1% — the softest ratios among markets with more than a handful of sales.

Related: How much negotiating room do San Diego buyers have? · Why homes sit on the market here

What sold, by price bracket

• Under $500k — 185 sold · $411,000 median · $477/sqft · 36 days
• $500k–$750k — 404 sold · $640,000 · $541/sqft · 21 days
• $750k–$1M — 478 sold · $875,000 · $561/sqft · 17 days
• $1M–$1.25M — 306 sold · $1,105,750 · $576/sqft · 17 days
• $1.25M–$1.5M — 181 sold · $1,370,000 · $655/sqft · 15 days
• $1.5M–$2M — 176 sold · $1,721,500 · $795/sqft · 16 days
• $2M–$4M — 171 sold · $2,595,000 · $958/sqft · 19 days
• $4M–$6M — 33 sold · $4,855,000 · $1,129/sqft · 31 days
• $6M+ — 21 sold · $7,000,000 · $1,282/sqft · 51 days

The $750k–$1M bracket is the county's engine: 478 closings in August, more than any other band.

Related: San Diego market time by price range

The context these sales closed into

August's closings reflect decisions buyers made in June and July. What has happened since matters for anyone pricing a home today.

Mortgage rates reached 7.58% — up from 6% in February and 6.75% in August, and up three-quarters of a point in four weeks. That is the largest monthly increase since 2022.

Demand fell to 1,593 pending sales, down 4% in two weeks and the second-lowest September reading since tracking began in 2012.

Expected market time rose to 111 days, the slowest reading of the year and the slowest since January 2019.

The luxury end moved sharply. Homes between $4M and $6M went from 146 days to 216 in two weeks. Above $6M, from 443 days to 528.

None of that has shown up in sale prices yet. The sales-to-list ratio held at 100.0%, 99.4% of August's sellers had equity, and distressed listings are 1.7% of the market. But it will show up in volume first, and 1,955 closings against 2,086 a year ago is the leading edge of it.

Related: Mortgage rates and the San Diego housing market · Is the San Diego housing market going to crash?

How to use this page

Compare like with like. A median sale price in a condo market and a median in a detached market are not the same measurement. Check the median square footage alongside it.

Discount the thin markets. San Ysidro recorded one sale in August. Pauma Valley recorded one. Campo recorded three. A single transaction sets the median in those places, and it tells you almost nothing about value.

Watch days on market in your own band. Nine days in Rancho Peñasquitos and 46 days Downtown are the same county in the same month. Your band and your neighborhood matter far more than the countywide figure.

Remember these are closings, not listings. Every sale here went into escrow in June or July, before rates reached 7.58%. The list prices a seller sets today are competing in a different market than the one these homes sold in.

Related: How to price a home in San Diego · Is this a buyer's or a seller's market?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the median home price in San Diego?

$950,000 for homes that closed in August 2026, against a median list price of $959,000 — a sales-to-list ratio of exactly 100.0%. The county median price per square foot was $582.

Which San Diego neighborhood is the most expensive?

By median sale price, Rancho Santa Fe at $4,880,000. By price per square foot, Cardiff by the Sea at $1,576, narrowly ahead of Coronado at $1,571 and Del Mar at $1,410.

What is the cheapest place to buy in San Diego County?

Borrego Springs, at a $311,250 median and $191 per square foot — the lowest of both measures in the county. Among urban submarkets, Mission Valley's $465,000 median is the lowest, though at $520 per square foot it is not inexpensive by the foot.

Are San Diego homes selling above or below asking?

On average, exactly at asking — 100.0% countywide. Several affordable communities closed above list in August, led by Lemon Grove at 103.6%, with San Carlos, San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, City Heights and Encanto all over 100%.

How long does it take to sell a home in San Diego?

The median closed sale took 19 days on market. But expected market time — how long it would take to sell all current listings at the present pace — is 111 days, the slowest since January 2019. The difference is that the 19-day figure only counts homes that actually sold.

Why are fewer homes selling in San Diego?

Mortgage rates. The 30-year reached 7.58% in late September, up three-quarters of a point in four weeks. August closings were down 6% from a year earlier and 12% from July, and pending sales at 1,593 are running 45% below the pre-COVID September average of 2,920.

Which San Diego neighborhoods sell fastest?

In August, Rancho Peñasquitos at 9 days, Ocean Beach at 10, and Clairemont and Scripps Ranch at 12. Downtown was the slowest urban market at 46 days.

Is price per square foot a better measure than median price?

For comparing areas, usually yes — it controls for home size. North Park's $890,000 median looks mid-market until you see the 882-square-foot median home behind it, which puts it at $1,009 per square foot, above La Jolla.

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Sold figures reflect residential resales that closed in San Diego County during August 2026; market time, inventory, demand and distressed figures are as of September 29, 2026. Data via Reports on Housing, written by Steven Thomas; analysis our own. Mortgage rate via Mortgage News Daily. Medians in communities with very few recorded sales are not statistically meaningful and are included for completeness only. Analysis by William Routt, Routt Home Team (DRE 01937558).

Want to know what your specific home would sell for in today's market? Reach out — we'll pull the comparable closings for your street and price point and give you a straight read.

William Routt · Routt Home Team · DRE 01937558 · info@routthometeam.com