San Diego house hunters are finding an extra line item quietly swelling in their budgets, as more homes now come with homeowners association dues and those monthly HOA bills keep creeping up. What once made condos and townhomes look like the cheaper workaround to single-family homes is starting to feel like a bit of a bait and switch.
Nationally, a new analysis by Realtor.com found that 43.6% of U.S. listings in 2025 carried a nonzero HOA fee and that the median monthly HOA rose to $135, up from $125 the year before. The report notes that HOAs remain most common on condos and new construction and that they are expanding across many metro areas.
San Diego numbers
Here in San Diego County, roughly 57% of listings showed HOA dues last year, up from about 55% in 2024, and the median monthly HOA fee climbed to $367 from $340, according to reporting by Axios San Diego. The median listing price for homes that carry HOAs in the county was about $769,900, and some downtown condos now come with monthly dues that top $1,000.
Why fees are climbing
Industry data point to several big drivers: higher insurance premiums, stricter inspection and reserve requirements, and rising labor and materials costs for repairs and upkeep. Realtor.com highlights climate-related risks and post-collapse regulatory changes as additional forces pushing association costs higher in many markets.
"The condo's traditional affordability advantage over single-family homes is eroding, and in many markets, it has reversed entirely," housing economist Aziz Sunderji writes in his Home Economics newsletter, a point highlighted by Axios. That shift means buyers should treat HOA dues as a core housing cost, not a throwaway line at the bottom of the listing.
What buyers should check
Prospective buyers are urged to dig into the details before falling in love with the granite countertops. That means reviewing an association's reserve study, recent budgets, and the master insurance policy in order to gauge the likelihood of future special assessments or steep fee hikes. The Community Associations Institute recommends making reserve-study disclosures and funding plans part of standard purchase due diligence.
Sticker price alone no longer tells the whole story. As monthly HOA dues climb, the calculus between renting, buying a condo, or stretching for a single-family home is shifting, and buyers need to factor both dues and likely future assessments into their budgets long before they sign on the dotted line.
