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San Diego's Housing Market on Slow Road to Recovery

KPBS--While there seem to be a few positive signs for the San Diego housing market, experts agree the downturn has been unprecedented and perhaps just the beginning.

The most recent good news comes from a report that shows home values grew on a monthly basis for the first time in three years. Prior to May, home prices had been in steady decline since July 2006.

The bad news is it only grew by 0.4 percent, and the housing market usually has some sort of upswing in the spring or summer.

Alan Gin, an economist at the University of San Diego, said San Diego’s military roots have helped deflect the brunt of the residential and commercial building downturn. At Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station alone, the Navy awarded construction contracts totaling $591 million last year -- nearly double the value of building permits for nonmilitary structures, excluding schools and warehouses, which last year totaled $339 million countywide. (Full Story)