DATE:
October 21, 2025
06
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT
Title
PUTTING SAN DIEGANS FIRST: SUPPORTING LOCAL HOMEBUYERS OVER FOREIGN INVESTORS (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
Homeownership is the cornerstone of the American Dream. It provides not just a safe and stable place to live, but also a pathway for creating generational wealth. More importantly, homeownership tends to create strong, close-knit communities, which positively impacts the overall wellbeing of our county's social fabric. Yet for many working families and young adults, especially here in the County of San Diego (County), this dream is slipping further out of reach. Soaring housing prices, limited inventory, and intense competition - made worse by expanding government regulations and broader market forces - keep homeownership increasingly unattainable for those who live, work, and are trying to raise families here.
To put this into perspective, consider the typical age of a first-time homebuyer. In 2025, the national average is 38 years old, up from 33 in 2020 - a 15% increase in just five years. In the County, the situation is even more dire, with only 8% of young adults under the age of 35 owning a home. Unfortunately, this is anything but surprising when the median price of a home in the County has surpassed $900,000 (August 2025). To afford a mortgage at this price, a household would need to secure roughly $180,000 for a traditional 20% downpayment and earn $180,000 annually to comfortably make the loan payment. The County's median income, however, is just $130,800. This price-to-income gap is locking an entire generation of San Diegans out of homeownership.
Making matters worse, foreign buyers - many of whom don't reside in the U.S. - have been increasingly targeting single-family homes across the country as investment opportunities, with California among the top states for speculation. According to the National Association of Realtors, international home purchases have incr...
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