Downtown’s real estate market showed few signs of slowing in 2005, recording its sixth consecutive year of increasing values with a 20 percent rise over 2004 in new home sales prices, reports the Downtown Residential Marketing Alliance. That’s the biggest one-year change since the beginning of the Downtown condominium boom in 1999.

MarketPointe Realty Advisors data shows the average price per square foot rose from $516.84 to $620.96. The median selling price was $636,661, a 31 percent increase over 2004. At the end of the third quarter, resales totaled 710, more than the 553 posted in all of 2004. The number of resale units on the market is growing, but that is due to the continuing growth of supply. Resales remain steady at 8 percent to 9 percent of supply, the same as in the housing market for the rest of the county and state.

“The evidence continues to show that purchasing a condominium in Downtown San Diego remains one of the best long-term investments available,” says Sherm Harmer, chair of the Downtown alliance.

More than 1,800 new condo units were sold Downtown in 2005, bringing the total sold to 7,600 since 1999.