San Diego Market Update | April 16, 2026 - Blum Realty Group

This is an archived update. It summarizes the market and mortgage rate reports that were available when it was published.

Mortgage Rates That Week

Freddie Mac PMMS (April 16, 2026):

30-Year Fixed: 6.30% — down from 6.37% the prior week

15-Year Fixed: 5.65% — down from 5.74% the prior week

One year ago: 30-year was 6.83%, 15-year was 6.03%

MBA Weekly Survey (Week ending April 10, 2026):

30-Year Fixed (conforming): 6.42% — down from 6.51%

15-Year Fixed: 5.85% — down from 5.90%

Purchase applications: Down 1% week over week, and 3% lower year over year

Refinance applications: Up 5% week over week (first rise in five weeks), 15% higher year over year

Rates dropped for the second week in a row. The Freddie Mac 30-year average hit 6.30%, its lowest in a month and more than half a point below the 6.83% of a year earlier. The drop finally brought out some refinance activity: refinance applications jumped 5% after five straight weeks of declines. Purchase demand stayed soft, though. Applications slipped 1% and were running 3% below the year-earlier pace, with economic uncertainty keeping some buyers on the sidelines. If the downward trend in rates held, I expected a noticeable pickup in activity heading into May.

National Housing Overview

NAR Existing-Home Sales (March 2026):

Sales pace: 3.98 million (SAAR, the seasonally adjusted annual rate) — down 3.6% from February and 1.0% from one year ago. That was a nine-month low.

Median existing-home price: $408,800 — up 1.4% year over year, marking the 33rd consecutive month of annual price gains.

Single-family median: $412,400 (+1.3% YoY) | Condo median: $371,500 (+2.3% YoY)

Inventory: 1.36 million units — 4.1 months of supply (up from 3.8 months in February)

Days on Market: 41 days (median)

First-Time Buyers: 32% of sales

Cash Sales: 27% of transactions

Affordability Index: 113.7 (down from 117.5 in February)

What This Meant

For buyers: rates were moving in your favor. The 30-year fixed had just hit a one-month low at 6.30%, more than half a point below the same time a year earlier. In San Diego, condos and townhomes gave buyers real room to negotiate, with prices down and days on market stretching to 50 days. Detached homes were still competitive because inventory was tight, so a buyer after a house needed to be ready to move quickly on the right one.

For sellers: San Diego’s detached home market was still rewarding well-priced listings, because limited supply kept serious buyers competing. For a condo or townhome, though, pricing mattered more than ever: days on market were up sharply and prices had softened. Nationally, inventory was building slowly, so the strongest seller’s advantage was starting to narrow, but locally, 2.2 months of supply still left sellers in a strong position.