Below we’ve outlined recent Los Angeles housing statistics and insights in light of the devastating wildfires. We’ll be updating this page with new information as it becomes available and as the situation evolves.
Redfin agents are working hard to help local homebuyers and sellers navigate disruptions and changes to their transactions. Many Redfin agents are also helping displaced residents find rentals and have offered this service free of charge. For people who have been impacted by the wildfires, Redfin has put together a list of resources, including temporary housing options and insurance information. Our hearts go out to Southern California during this extremely challenging time.
Update: January 29, 2025 at 12:15pm PT
Online Views of LA Rental Listings Up 37% Year Over Year, Compared to Near-100% Spikes the Week After Wildfires Broke Out
Online views of rental listings in Los Angeles County were up 37% from a year earlier on January 27. That’s compared to near-100% spikes on January 12, 13, and 14, in the week directly following the outbreaks of the Palisades and Eaton fires.
Zooming out a weekly timespan, rental pageviews were up 34% from a year earlier during the week ending January 27, the smallest increase since the week ending January 10. This is according to pageview data from Redfin.com.
“A lot of the people who have been displaced by the wildfires have, thankfully, found places to stay for the next several months or years. But there are a fair amount of people who have been staying with family and friends for the last few weeks, and are just now starting to look for rentals–or are just now finding a rental they like that’s available,” said Tim Root, a Redfin Premier agent in Los Angeles. “Some people are buying, but plenty of people are still wrapping their heads around losing their homes in the wildfires, and they’re not ready to purchase.”
Update: January 22, 2025 at 2:45pm PT
The Palisades and Eaton Fires Have Destroyed 17% of Homes Within Their Perimeters
Roughly one of every six (17%) homes within the perimeters of the Palisades and Eaton fires have been destroyed, damaged, or made inaccessible as of January 22. That’s a total of 14,960 homes; of those, 12,941 (87%) were destroyed, 1,988 (13%) were damaged, and 31 were inaccessible (0.2%). This is from a Redfin analysis that divides the number of housing units destroyed or damaged by the total number of housing units within the incident perimeters of each fire, as defined by Cal Fire. Please note that this is an update to the data in the section below; we have added data as we’re able to access it.
Zooming out to all of Los Angeles County, 0.4% of all homes were destroyed or damaged by the Palisades or Eaton fires.
Of the 14,960 homes that have been destroyed or damaged, just over half of those (51%) were destroyed, damaged, or made inaccessible by the Eaton fire, and 49% by the Palisades fire. Single-family homes account for the majority (86%; 12,848) of the homes that were destroyed, damaged, or made inaccessible. Another 13% (1,927) were units in multi-family properties, and 1% (185) were mobile homes.
Update: January 17, 2025 at 12:55pm PT
Palisades, Eaton Fires Have Destroyed 14% of Homes Within the Fire Perimeters
Roughly one of every seven (14%) homes within the perimeters of the Palisades and Eaton fires have been destroyed or damaged. That’s a total of 6,354 homes; of those, 5,449 (86%) were destroyed, and 905 (14%) were damaged. This is from a Redfin analysis that divides the number of housing units destroyed or damaged by the total number of housing units within the incident perimeters of each fire, as defined by Cal Fire (note that this analysis doesn’t include commercial structures).
Zooming out to all of Los Angeles County, 0.17% of all homes were destroyed or damaged by the Palisades or Eaton fires. While that’s a small fraction of overall housing in the Los Angeles area, Redfin agents report the destruction has created a ripple effect of people searching for housing in a region already struggling with a housing shortage.
Of the 6,354 homes that have been destroyed or damaged, just over half of those (56%) were destroyed or damaged by the Eaton fire, and 44% by the Palisades fire.
Single-family homes account for the vast majority (89%; 5,636) of the homes that were destroyed or damaged. Another 11% (707) were units in multi-family properties, and less than 1% (11) were mobile homes. Roughly 6,000 single-family permits are granted each year across all of Los Angeles County, according to a separate Redfin analysis of county permits from 2013 to 2023. That’s less than the number of homes that have been destroyed by the Palisades and Eaton fires.
Update: January 17, 2025 at 9:25am PT
Los Angeles Redfin Agents Report Rental Bidding Wars, Canceled Home Purchases
Bidding wars for rentals, canceled homebuying deals: “Tons of past clients are reaching out on behalf of friends, seeing if I know of any available rentals. There’s competition for nearly every rental, and it’s not just on price; a lot of people are taking on long leases to secure a place to live. A rental listed for $16,000 per month got bid up to $30,000, and the winners took on a two-year lease. On the buying and selling side, people are pulling back, waiting for the dust to settle. Two buyers have canceled deals because they don’t feel comfortable making such a big purchase with the catastrophe going on. Three clients have canceled their listings, with the homeowners opting to rent their homes out to people impacted by the fires instead.” – Gregory Eubanks, Redfin Premier agent
Buying may be less stressful than renting: “One family I’m working with is looking for a home because they were asked to leave their rental; their landlord needs to move back in because his house burned down in the Eaton fire. They’re open to buying or renting, but buying may be less stressful because single-family rentals are going incredibly fast.” –Erik Miles, Redfin Premier agent
Buyers are pulling out of deals: “The fires are impacting a lot of deals. I have a $1.7 million home in Altadena that was supposed to close next week but the buyers pulled out, and now my sellers are fighting for the deposit. It’s a real mess. Rentals are a different story. My best advice to families looking for rentals is to move as quickly as possible; call a real estate agent and ask for help.” –Alin Glogovicean, Redfin Premier agent
Airbnbs are turning into long-term rentals: “People are getting creative; I’m seeing Airbnbs turn into regular rentals, and second-home owners offer up their empty homes as rentals. I’ve been all over Facebook, asking if anyone knows of open rentals, and then matchmaking with clients.” –Heidi Ludwig, Redfin Premier agent
Insurers aren’t writing policies for LA-area homes: “Lack of insurance is a huge obstacle to buying a home now. At the moment, no insurer other than the state-run California Fair plan is writing policies. I met an insurance broker who said that until about a month after the fires are completely contained, none of the big players will provide insurance for homes within a 20-mile radius of the fires. Nobody wants to touch it. And the California Fair Plan is exponentially more expensive and typically provides worse coverage.” –Alin Glogovicean, Redfin Premier agent
Update: January 16, 2025 at 12:45pm PT
Views of Online Rental Listings in Los Angeles County Are Spiking
Online views of rental listings in Los Angeles County nearly doubled from a year earlier to their highest levels in at least two years on January 12, 13 and 14. The spike came as people who were displaced from their homes by the wildfires searched for a place to live.
On each of those days, views of rental listings were up roughly 93% year over year, the biggest increases in at least a year (except Sept. 2 and Nov. 23, which saw big year-over-year spikes due to dates of holidays).
Zooming out a weekly timespan, rental pageviews were up 57% from a year earlier during the week ending January 14, the biggest increase in roughly four months.
This is according to pageview data from Redfin.com. We are keeping an eye on the most recent rental pageview data and will provide updates as they become available.
Update: January 15, 2025 at 3:23pm PT
Google Searches for L.A. Rentals Are Soaring
The search term “Los Angeles homes for rent” has jumped 186% since the first week of this year as people displaced by the fires look for housing. There have been reports that some property owners are hiking rents as demand soars.
California’s Fire-Prone Areas Saw More People Move Out Than In Before the L.A. Fires, And More Redfin Research
“The wildfires devastating Los Angeles could be a critical tipping point for risk tolerance among American renters and homeowners,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “While the country’s disaster-prone areas continue to see more people move in than out overall, behavior has begun to shift in California; the state’s high-fire-risk areas in 2023 saw a net loss of residents, marking a reversal from the prior year. And the Southern California wildfires may exacerbate this trend in 2025.”
Below is a list of relevant climate-related research Redfin has published, including a report on what typically happens with home prices, sales and new construction in the wake of California wildfires.
- Older Americans Are More Likely to Buy Disaster-Prone Homes Than Younger Americans
- Homes With Low Natural Disaster Risk Are Rising in Value Faster Than Homes With High Risk for the First Time in Over a Decade
- Thousands More People Are Moving In Than Out of Fire- and Flood-Prone America, Fueled by Migration to Texas and Florida
- People Are Moving Out of Areas With Poor Air Quality, Often Because They’re Too Expensive
- America Is Increasingly Building Homes in Disaster-Prone Areas
- 58% of Homeowners Have Spent Money to Protect Their Homes From Climate Threats: Survey
- Homes With High Fire Risk Sell For Nearly $120,000 More Than Low-Risk Homes As Americans Flock to Fire-Prone Suburbia
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Home Prices Grow at Much Slower Rate in Towns Burned by California’s Most Destructive Wildfires
Update: January 15, 2025 at 11:55am PT
No Spike in West Los Angeles Listings Amid Wildfires
We have not seen a significant change in the number of homes listed in West Los Angeles since the wildfires started.
There are 350 active or “coming soon” listings in West Los Angeles as of January 14, including 23 homes that were listed on Monday, January 13, and 15 that hit the market on Friday, January 9.
That compares with a daily average of nine new listings in West Los Angeles over the past two years, though there is variation depending on the time of year and day of week. For comparison, 11 homes were listed a year ago on Monday, January 15, 2024, and 34 homes were listed on Thursday, January 18, 2024.
For this section, West Los Angeles encompasses the Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Westwood, Century City and Brentwood.
January 14, 2025
Los Angeles For-Sale Housing Market
Unless otherwise noted, figures in this section represent December 2024 and cover the Los Angeles metropolitan area, which is the second most populous U.S. metro.
- Median home sale price: $905,250, up 6.5% YoY. Los Angeles is the fourth most expensive metro, by median sale price, among the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas.
- Median monthly mortgage payment: $5,970 per month (assuming December’s median sale price, current weekly average mortgage rate, and 20% down payment)
- Affordability: Los Angeles has the least affordable for-sale housing market in the country; someone making the median income would have to spend 78% of their earnings on monthly housing costs to afford the typical home, as of December 2024. That’s the highest share of any major U.S. metro.
- Active listings (total number of homes for sale): 16,911, up 19.7% YoY. That’s the 10th highest number of active listings among the 50 most populous metros.
- New listings: 2,936, up 11.2% YoY—the sixth largest increase among the 50 most populous metros.
- Pending home sales: 3,695, up 6.6% YoY—the fourth-biggest increase among the major metros Redfin analyzed.
- Homes sold: 4,130, up 16.3% YoY. Los Angeles had the 9th highest number of home sales among the 50 most populous metros.
- Median days on market: 51, up 9 days YoY.
- Share of homes sold above list price: 39.9%—the 9th highest among the major metros Redfin analyzed. That’s down 2.7 ppts YoY.
- Total value of homes: $2.2 trillion, as of summer 2024. That’s up 6% from a year earlier, and is the second-highest total value of any U.S. metro.
- Owner-occupied homes (Los Angeles County): 1.6 million as of 2023, per the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Homeowner tenure: The typical Los Angeles homeowner has spent 19.4 years in their home as of 2024, a longer median tenure than any other major U.S. metro area. That’s much longer than the nationwide average, which is 11.8 years. California homeowners tend to stay put longer than those in other parts of the country largely because they’re incentivized to do so by Proposition 13, which limits property tax increases.
Los Angeles Rental Market
- December 2024 median asking rent in Los Angeles metro area: $2,780 (-0.4% YoY). That compares with a national median asking rent of $1,594 (-0.3% YoY). Here’s a bedroom breakout for the Los Angeles metro:
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- 0-1 bedroom median asking rent: $2,483 (0.5% YoY)
- 2 bedroom median asking rent: $3,170 (0.5% YoY)
- 3+ bedroom median asking rent: $3,899 (1.7% YoY)
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- More than half (56%) of Los Angeles households are rent-burdened, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
- The typical Los Angeles renter earns about $38,000 less than they need to afford the median-priced apartment, as of December 2024.
- Prior to the fires, asking rents in Los Angeles had been flat for three years.
- More than 95% of apartment units in Los Angeles are occupied, as of December 2024. Los Angeles has an apartment vacancy rate of 4.6%, lower than the national level.
- There are roughly 1.9 million renter-occupied homes in Los Angeles County as of 2023, per the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Rents have already started rising and will likely continue to increase as displaced families seek temporary housing and look for permanent housing, according to Redfin agents. Those increases will last as long as it takes to rebuild, which is likely to be two to three years at a minimum.
Fire Risk and Insurance in Los Angeles
- There are 565,006 residential properties in Los Angeles County facing high fire risk, representing over one-quarter (28.7%) of properties, according to data from First Street.
- Los Angeles County had a homeowners insurance nonrenewal rate of 1.4% as of 2023. That’s according to a Redfin analysis of data from the Senate Budget Committee, which collected nonrenewal data from 23 insurance companies representing roughly 65% of the U.S. homeowners insurance market. There were 16,925 insurance nonrenewals in Los Angeles County in 2023—the highest number among the 3,098 counties Redfin analyzed.
