With the finishing touches put on Legend, Electra and the Lofts at 655 Sixth Ave. in the last few months, Downtown saw the completion in 2007 of 17 residential projects that added 1,721 condominiums and 252 apartments to the 92101 ZIP code. This was an increase from 15 projects in 2006 that added 600 condominiums but a drop from last year’s 452 apartments.
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This year will see about five projects completed with about 900 additional units added to the marketplace.
At the end of November, about 1,800 units of standing inventory remained Downtown. About 54 percent of those units are complete, 16 percent will be complete in 2008 and 30 percent will be completed in ’09, says Russ Valone, president of MarketPointe Realty Advisors.
To put some perspective on the number of unsold units, Valone says Las Vegas has about 27,000 units and Miami 60,000 to 70,000 standing units. “So San Diego doesn’t have a lot of inventory to go through,” he says.
Valone predicts moderate sales for 2008. The challenge, he says, is for buyers to qualify for a reasonable mortgage rate. “The big thing that is going to be important to Downtown San Diego is the rise in the (Federal Housing Administration) limits,” he says. “If the conforming rate is raised to $643,000, you will see a ripple of more activity.”
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