With interest rates rising, the corresponding increase in mortgage rates is beginning to make itself felt in housing markets across the United States. While rising mortgage rates make borrowing more expensive and reduce affordability, they can also dampen demand by dissuading potential buyers from actively shopping for a home, according to the Mortgage Reports. The reduction in buyers can help loosen the squeeze on many housing markets’ diminishing available inventory.

The Los Angeles housing market in 2022 shares several characteristics with other California and American housing markets in general: Rising prices, declining inventory, homes going off the market quickly. However, the Los Angeles housing market is in better shape than other cities in California. The average number of days a home for sale spends on the market before being bought up is 36 days as of February 2022, down 28% from an average of 50 days in February 2021. However, this is much longer than the San Diego housing market, where the average number of days on market for a home is only 8 days in February 2022. The months of supply of homes — which is how long it would take the available supply of homes to be bought up if no new homes come on the market — stands at 1.9 months in February 2022. That’s down from 3 months’ supply in February 2021, but again, it’s better than San Diego’s months of supply of homes in February 2022, which is 0.7 months.

Over the last year, the median sale price in Los Angeles rose by 11.2%, from $850,000 in February 2021 to $945,000 in February 2022. During that same period, housing inventory in the Los Angeles housing market declined by 41.3%, from 6,119 available homes in February 2021 to 3,590 homes in February 2022. Home sales fell by 9%, from 2,063 in February 2021 to 1,877 in February 2022, but still remains higher than the number of home sales in February 2020, when there were 1,630. New listings are down even more, 15%, from 2,842 new listings in February 2021 to 2,416 in February 2022.

The San Diego housing market is hotter than that of Los Angeles. The median sale price in San Diego has risen by 17.2% in the last year, from $705,000 in February 2021 to $826,000 in February 2022. Housing inventory in the San Diego housing market fell by a greater percentage (45.3%) than in Los Angeles (41.3%) over the last year, going from 1,223 available homes in February 2021, down to 669 homes in February 2022. San Diego homes are getting bought up quickly this year, with the number of days on the market falling by 46.7%, from 15 days in February 2021 to 8 days in February 2022. San Diego’s months of supply of homes is also dwindling, falling from 1.9 months in February 2020 to 1.1 months in February 2021, and then even further, to 0.7 months in February 2022. New listings in San Diego also declined over the last year, but not at the rate of the Los Angeles housing market: 9.7% year-over-year in San Diego versus 15% in Los Angeles.