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Population: 41,330
Median price single-family home: $1,000,000
Median price single-family luxury home:
$1,660,000
Land area in square miles: 19.7
Residents per square mile: 1,416
Distance from Downtown S.D.: 18 miles
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On the northern edge of the city of San Diego, Carmel Valley lies just east of Del Mar and Interstate 5. To the south of the community are the large employment centers of Sorrento Valley and La Jolla’s Golden Triangle, and many residents are employed by such nearby companies as Cisco and Oracle. Until the mid-1970s, the area was agricultural and dotted with horse farms and nurseries. A master plan was developed in the mid-1970s and developers came up with the name “North City West.” Residential development began in earnest in 1983 and residents changed the community’s name to its former name, Carmel Valley, in the early 1990s. It was named for its location — in a wide valley north of Carmel Mountain, which was in turn named for the Carmelite nuns, who built a monastery, hospital, and dairy in the area in 1905. A dozen years later, the hospital would house wounded WWI soldiers.
Carmel Valley is characterized by large, newer, upscale homes plus condos and townhomes in a variety of communities. Some homes on the hillside boast spectacular views. Home prices remain relatively stable, and one reason for that is the community’s central county location and easy access to Interstate 5. Residents’ accessibility to other locations in the county improved even more when the east-west 56 freeway was completed, connecting the community to eastern suburbs such as Rancho Penasquitos, Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Escondido, and others. Schools in the area are in top-notch school districts. Even in the current housing slump, Carmel Valley remains very popular with homebuyers – in fact, more than 200 people were reportedly on the waiting list for a chance to buy one builder’s eight new homes. The population of Carmel Valley has grown almost 61 percent since 2000. |
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Del Mar beaches are just minutes away, as is golf at courses in Torrey Pines and The Meadows. Carmel Valley’s Community Park and Recreation Center opened in 1999 and features play areas, pools, waterslides, tennis courts, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, and playing fields that teem with youth teams. The Recreation Center offers a variety of programs. A skate park is under construction. There are four other parks in the community, and Carmel Valley also offers a lot of open land for horse and hiking trails. It borders on the Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. The major shopping area is the Del Mar Highlands Shopping Center, where you’ll also find good restaurants. |
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The median price for a single-family home was $1 million in 2007, down 2.9% from 2006. The median price for a condo was $550,000, down 3.7%. The median price for a single-family luxury home is $1.6 million. Please note that our “Home Price Points” are based on the luxury market.
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Below the median
$ 850,000
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Near the median
$ 1,795,000
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Above the median
$ 9,995,000
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Story by Jacqueline Shannon
Photography by Latara Dragoo
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