U.S. home values have rebounded impressively so far this year after a short-lived downturn late last year, according to a new report just issued by leading internet broker Zillow.

The total value of the housing market surged $2.6 trillion over the past year, a new Zillow analysis shows. 

So how does San Diego play into this story? Well, we largely avoided the downturn with the total value of our home market holding steady at more than $994 billion. The value never really dropped.

Overall, Zillow ranks our metro region as the 10th most valuable housing market in the country.

New York ranked as the No. 1 region with a value of $4.29 trillion, up 4.2% or $172 billion.

The report found that California remains “a behemoth,” with more than $10 trillion in value in its housing market, or nearly 20% of the national total. 

The four most valuable metro areas have remained largely unchanged over the past five years: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston.*

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Illinois-based Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an insurance broker, risk management and consulting services firm, said that it has acquired San Diego’s Hartley Cylke Pacific Insurance Services, a retail insurance broker specializing in transportation.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to the news announcement, Hartley Cylke principals Michael Hartley, John Cylke and James Hawes will remain in in place under the direction of Scott Firestone, head of Gallagher’s Southwest region retail property/casualty brokerage operations.

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San Diego’s breweries recently won five Gold Medals at Denver’s 2023 Great American Beer Festival, commonly referred to as “The Oscars” of the craft beer industry.

The five Golds and 18 medals overall eclipsed last year’s totals of three and 15, respectively.

The top-winning breweries were Ballast Point Brewing Company – Little Italy for Barometer Drop in the “Strong Porter” category, Belching Beaver Brewery – Oceanside Brewhouse for Tropical Terps IPA in the “Experimental IPA” category, Santee’s BNS Brewing and Distilling for Gatling Gun in the “Imperial Stout” category, East Village Brewing Company for IZOLA Kvass in the “Historical Beer” category, and North Park’s TapRoom Beer Company for PB Haze in the “Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale” category.

Point Loma’s Modern Times Beer (one Silver, one Bronze) and Carmel Mountain’s Second Chance Beer Company (two Bronze) were San Diego’s only multiple winners.

San Diego has the most craft brewery locations among all counties in the United States with more than 150.

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LA-based 1st Century Bank, a division of MidFirst Bank, which claims to be the nation’s largest privately owned bank, said in a news release that it is expanding to San Diego.

This move is being led by experienced banking professional Jason Shidler and his team, who have joined 1st Century Bank from the now-defunct First Republic Bank.

The addition of this accomplished team furthers 1st Century Bank’s growth strategy in Southern California, according to a news release.

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A Native American-owned business has opened in San Diego’s Gaslamp district.

Ruth-Ann Thorn, owner of EC Gallery, says she is the first tribal member to open and operate a business in the district, making a historic milestone for downtown.

When the Gaslamp area was developed in the mid-1800s native people weren’t allowed to own businesses, she said.

“This just goes to show how far Native Americans have come here in San Diego,” she said in a news release.

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Oscar Arreola, manager of the popular McDonald’s restaurant on East San Ysidro Boulevard in Chula Vista, has won a Ray Kroc Award, which recognizes the burger chain’s top-performing managers around the world.

Named after McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, the awards recognize managers who make “Kroc’s vision of excellence come to life in restaurants and for customers each day.”

Arreola has been working for McDonald’s for 22 years, according to a news release.

“Oscar is a light within our organization — always going above and beyond for the crew, the customers, and the community,” said local store owner Sabina Campos.

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The results of a recent report released by apartment rental website Zumper said San Diego is the 4th most expensive city to rent an apartment in the country.

The median price of one-bedroom units grew 2.1% to $2,460, while two-bedrooms remained flat at $3,300, the company said.

Drilling down, the survey of the region found that the most expensive city for rentals was Coronado with the median price of a one-bedroom at $5,000 a month.

Encinitas was the second priciest with rent at $2,750. Carlsbad was third at $2,570.

El Cajon has the least expensive one-bedroom apartments at $1,790, with National City coming in second at $1,970.

Escondido and Chula Vista were tied for third with rents at $2,000.

National City had the fastest-growing rent, up 14.5% since this time last year.

The statewide median rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $2,075 last month, according to the report.

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Pannikin Coffee & Tea has leased 2,000 square feet of retail space in central Oceanside, according to a news release issued by Urban Property Group.

The Leucadia-based, family-owned coffee purveyor will occupy the former Bunker House on North Cleveland Street, which was first owned in 1886 by Theodore C. Bunker.

Indeed, the two-story structure is one of the first brick buildings in Oceanside and one of three brick buildings built in the 1880s still standing.

“This was a great opportunity to help a terrific, local company with its expansion plan while occupying a beautiful Oceanside historical building,” said UPG’s Serena Patterson.

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Finally, these two items of note for frequent business fliers.

First, Alaska Airlines says it will operate a new, daily service between San Diego and Atlanta beginning next May. 

The Seattle-based carrier currently offers 36 nonstop destinations from San Diego, which remains the most of any airline serving the airport.

Secondly, San Diego International will soon be home to one of the first state-of-the-art mobile charging technologies implemented by DHL Express in the United States.

The package carrier said in a news release that the carts are optimized for their efficiency of electrical operations,

The company set the cost at $10 million to implement the program.

The first charging cart will launch next month in San Diego followed by JFK in New York and SFO in San Franciso, as well as LAX in Los Angeles. 

The company says it has already installed carts at the airport in Las Vegas.

Tom York is a Carlsbad-based independent journalist who specializes in writing about business and the economy. If you have news tips you’d like to share, send them to tom.york@gmail.com.