San Diego Housing Inventory (Aug 2026): What's For Sale

William RouttAug 31, 20265 min.

5,981 homes are for sale in San Diego — near a seasonal plateau, still 17% below normal. What's available by price, why supply is tight, and what it means for you.

San Diego Housing Inventory: What's Available Right Now

Updated August 2026 | Data as of August 18, 2026

There are 5,981 homes for sale across San Diego County — essentially flat over the past two weeks (up 1%), and hovering near its seasonal plateau, the most available so far this year.

That sounds like relief for buyers, and directionally it is. But the fuller picture is more complicated: inventory is still about 17% below where it would have been in a normal pre-pandemic August, and the recent buildup has less to do with sellers rushing to list than with buyers stepping back. Homes are accumulating because they aren't selling, not because there's a wave of new supply.

Here's what's actually on the market, how it compares historically, and what it means depending on which side of the transaction you're on.

The current numbers

Active listings: 5,981

Change over two weeks: +67 homes (+1%)

One year ago: 6,274 — 5% more than today

Pre-COVID average (2017–2019): 7,183 — 20% more than today

New listings January–July: 24,175 — 28% below the pre-COVID norm

Distressed listings: 87 (1.5% of the market)

Inventory has plateaued — while demand keeps sliding

Inventory rose just 67 homes over two weeks (up 1%), and only 25 homes over the past four. After climbing through the spring and summer, supply has essentially flattened — this is the last hurrah before the market transitions to the autumn season in September, when inventory typically starts to fall week to week.

Here's the part that matters: supply plateaued while demand kept dropping, falling another 4% (65 pending sales) as mortgage rates climbed to 6.66%. Inventory in 2024 and 2025 saw demand hold steadier through mid-summer. This year it didn't — demand just hit its lowest mid-August reading since tracking began in 2012.

The distinction matters. Inventory built by new listings means more choice for buyers. Inventory that lingers because homes aren't selling means a growing pool of stale listings — and right now, a large majority of what's available has already been sitting on the market for weeks.

San Diego County also hasn't officially hit its annual inventory peak yet, though it's close. That typically arrives between July and August. Last year, inventory sat at 6,274 around this point on the calendar. Which path 2026 takes from here will say a lot about how the autumn market shapes up.

Why inventory is still historically low

Even at its seasonal plateau, there are 1,202 fewer homes for sale today than in a typical pre-COVID August — about 17% below normal.

The reason is the lock-in effect. A very large share of San Diego homeowners refinanced or purchased between 2020 and mid-2022, when 30-year rates sat in the 2.7% to 3.5% range. Selling today and buying again at 6.66% means a dramatically higher monthly payment on an equivalent home. For many households the math simply doesn't work, so they stay put — and their home never becomes inventory.

You can see it clearly in listing volume. Through July, 24,175 homes came to market in San Diego County. The pre-COVID average for the same stretch was 33,486 — a shortfall of 9,311 listings, or 28%.

The trend has been easing from its 2023 low. Compared with the first seven months of prior years, 2026 has seen 6,631 more new listings than 2023 and 2,648 more than 2024 — but 1,247 fewer than 2025. Sellers are slowly returning, just not quickly enough to rebuild normal supply.

What's actually available, by price

Inventory isn't evenly distributed, and this is where the countywide number stops being useful.

$0–$750k — 2,316 homes (39% of inventory). By far the largest segment, and the most crowded. This band draws only 32% of buyer demand, so competition among sellers here is intense.

$750k–$1M — 1,243 homes (21%). The healthiest balance in the county: 21% of supply against 26% of demand.

$1M–$1.25M — 664 homes (11%).

$1.25M–$1.5M — 450 homes (8%).

$1.5M–$2M — 430 homes (7%).

$2M–$4M — 535 homes (9%).

$4M–$6M — 168 homes (3%). Only 2% of demand.

$6M+ — 175 homes (3%). Only 1% of demand.

San Diego inventory by price range in July 2026

The takeaway for buyers: more than half of everything available is under $1 million, so if that's your range you have real selection but also real competition from other buyers. Above $4 million, supply and demand are badly mismatched — 6% of inventory chasing about 3% of buyers.

Luxury inventory

Homes above $2 million — the top 10% of the San Diego market — account for 878 active listings, down 25 homes (3%) over two weeks.

Year over year the luxury picture is tighter, not looser: active luxury inventory is down 198 homes, an 18% decline. Fewer high-end sellers are listing than last summer. And unlike the broader market, luxury demand actually ticked up this cycle — rising 3 pending sales to 183 (+2%) — which pulled the luxury expected market time down from 151 to 144 days. At that pace, a luxury seller listing today would be looking at going into escrow around January 2027.

Related: San Diego luxury home market

The inventory that disappeared

There's a category of supply that doesn't show up in the active count, and this year it's enormous.

Sellers who list, wait, get no acceptable offer, and withdraw create a pool of shadow inventory — supply that exists but isn't counted, waiting to reappear.

Some of these sellers will relist in the fall, some next spring, some never. Cyclically, withdrawals stay elevated through the back half of the year, dip slightly in November, then surge in December as sellers pull listings for the holidays.

Distressed inventory is essentially nonexistent

For anyone watching inventory levels and thinking about 2008: there are 87 distressed homes on the market countywide — 22 foreclosures and 65 short sales. That's 1.5% of all listings and 1.0% of demand.

The count is up by five from two weeks ago, and up from 41 a year ago. But at these absolute numbers, that's noise, not a trend. Foreclosures accounted for 0.1% of July's closed sales and short sales 0.3%, meaning 99.6% of San Diego sales were made by sellers with equity.

Rising inventory in 2026 is a demand story. It is not a distress story.

Where the inventory is

Supply concentrates heavily in a handful of areas. The City of San Diego alone accounts for 2,278 active listings — well over a third of the county total. Downtown San Diego carries 363, and Escondido, Oceanside, Chula Vista, Carlsbad, and El Cajon each hold between roughly 210 and 320.

At the other end, small coastal and rural markets carry very thin inventory — often under 50 active listings — which makes their local statistics swing dramatically from one report to the next.

What this means for you

If you're buying, you have near the most to choose from all year, and the listings that have been sitting longest are where your negotiating leverage lives. But note that inventory is still well below normal, and rising supply hasn't translated into falling prices — homes are still closing at 100% of list. Expect selection, not discounts.

If you're selling, you're competing against more listings than at almost any point in the past year, and much of your competition has already been sitting for a month or more. That's actually an opportunity — a fresh, well-priced, move-in-ready listing stands out sharply against a field of stale ones. The typical San Diego home that sold in July went pending in a median of about 20 days.

If you're waiting for inventory to normalize before making a move, understand what that would require. Getting back to pre-COVID supply means roughly 1,200 more homes on the market — and with the lock-in effect still holding, that most likely arrives through lower mortgage rates freeing up sellers, not through a sudden surge in listings.

Market data via Reports on Housing, as of August 18, 2026, covering San Diego County residential resales. Active listing inventory reflects homes available on the open market and excludes pending sales. Analysis by William Routt, Routt Home Team (DRE 01937558).

Want to know what's available in your specific neighborhood and price range? Reach out — we'll put together a current list and walk you through it.

Written by

William Routt

Routt Home Team

DRE01937558

info@routthometeam.com Work with William

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