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The Eaton and Palisades fires which began January 7, 2025 have both been burning for more than two weeks. As firefighters make progress , we wanted to lay out the real-estate impacts that these fires have had and what we could see in the weeks ahead. and ongoing windy conditions mean that the situation is evolving. Further, it will take people and communities time to adjust, and the decisions they make about how to adjust–stay and rebuild or take the disruption as an opportunity to move elsewhere–will shape the real estate market in Los Angeles and elsewhere.Ìý

We matched up fire perimeters as reported by the on January 21, 2025 with our database of residential properties and found the following:

• The 15,841 residential properties within the designated fire boundaries had a total value of $40.3 billion. This estimate includes single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and cooperatives.
• The sizable total value of residences impacted by the fires stems from both the high number and the relatively high median value. The median home within the boundaries of the Eaton fire has an estimated $1.3 million value while the typical home in the Palisades fire boundary has an estimated value of $3.0 million.
• For comparison, the total value of residential real estate in Los Angeles County is $2.0 trillion, and the median value of the 1.7 million properties in Los Angeles County is somewhat lower ($870,500).
• The residences within the fire boundaries comprise 0.9% of Los Angeles County residential properties by number and account for 2.0% of the total value of properties in Los Angeles County.Ìý
• So far in 2025, about 100 homes have been listed for sale within the Eaton and Palisades fire boundaries. LA county as a whole has seen 8,426 active listings year-to-date, meaning these at-risk properties made up about 1.3% of active for-sale home listings so far this year.ÌýÌýÌý
• Rents have been stable to modestly down in the Los Angeles metro area in recent years as the rental vacancy rate has risen to a 10-year high. This will likely help the market better accommodate displaced households, but rental price increases are still expected.ÌýÌý

Though the extent of the damage due to the Palisades and Eaton fires has not yet been fully assessed, more than $40 billion worth of residential real estate is within the fires’ boundaries, and therefore at risk. This high value represents more than 15,000 residences.

Year-to-date, roughly 8,400 homes were for sale in LA County, about 100 of which were within the boundaries of either the Eaton or Palisades fire. This is 1.3% of listings in LA county, slightly higher than this area’s share of the residential housing stock.Ìý

The number of homes listed for sale in the affected areas fell from 94 homes in the first week of the year (pre-fire), to 52 homes last week as sellers either pulled listings off the market, or potential listings never hit the market. In this same period of time, the broader Los Angeles market saw the count of active listings rise from 6,089 to 6,743, an increase that is seasonally typical.Ìý

The Los Angeles area will likely see an uptick in local market home search activity as displaced families hoping to stay in the area look for a place to settle while they evaluate the damage and pursue repairs or rebuilding. The expected increase in demand coupled with the loss of for-sale supply could push rents and home prices higher in the very near term.Ìý

Views-per-property on for-sale homes surged in the affected areas over the last two weeks likely due to both curious non-locals as well as locals exploring relocation options. Additionally, fewer for-sale listings concentrates demand into the homes that are available, driving views-per-listing higher.Ìý

Interestingly, even at the metro-level, for-sale listing viewership from outside of LA surged starting on January 8th, right as the wildfires picked up. Pre-fires, less than 40% of listing viewership came from outside the LA metro area. By January 9th, the out-of-metro share of views reached 65%, peaking before falling slowly and reaching pre-fire share by January 18. Of note, in the last few days, out-of-metro viewer share has continued to fall, suggesting that within-LA viewership is picking up, perhaps as displaced residents look for living options. Though the pick-up in out-of-metro viewership is quite pronounced, the LA metro is very large, so the effect is likely somewhat muted compared to what we would see in the areas immediately adjacent to the areas affected by the wildfires.ÌýÌý

Though these residences within the fire boundaries account for just 0.9% of LA County properties, they make up 2.0% of total residential property value in the area. The typical property in the boundaries of the Palisades fire was worth $3.0M, and the median value of a home in the Eaton boundary was $1.3M. The LA County median home value is somewhat lower than both of these areas at $870,500.ÌýÌýÌý

Recent Construction Trends and the Housing Shortage in LAÌý

Over the last decade, between two and three households were formed for every single-family housing permit issued. Between 2013 and 2023, the Los Angeles metro area added roughly 290,000 new households, but issued only about 107,000 single-family building permits, opening up a nearly 200,000 home gap. The gap is possibly wider than the data suggests as limited housing supply and high housing costs deter new households from forming.Ìý

However, rental inventory growth has helped offer households options. In the last decade, roughly 220,000 multi-family permits were issued, adding significant rental inventory to the LA market. Ìý

This tension between limited supply and robust demand for housing in LA has kept competition fierce and home prices high. The median listing price per square foot has climbed in LA throughout the data’s history (back to mid-2016). In 2024, there were roughly 36.1% fewer homes for sale in LA compared to 2019.

Rental Market

As a major urban area, homeownership rates in the Los Angeles metro lag behind the U.S. overall average. In the 3rd quarter of 2024, the metro homeownership rate was estimated to be 49.2%. Put simply, roughly 1 in 2 households across the Los Angeles metro area rents the home that they live in, making the rental market a key component of the area housing market. However, in the areas most affected by the fires, the homeownership rate is higher than the metro average. More than three-quarters (77.4%) of households in Pacific Palisades (ZIP 90272) own their home, and 80.5% households in Altadena (ZIP 91001) own. It is likely that households affected by the fires will look to rent in the short-term, putting more pressure on the rental market.Ìý

Rents in the Los Angeles metro area in December were the fourth highest in the country behind New York, Boston, and San Jose. The median asking rent for a 0-2 bedroom home was $2,750, a decline of 2.7% compared to the prior year. Asking rents in the Los Angeles metro have been relatively weak in recent years. The last time the metro saw rent growth above 1.5% year over year was in 2022 and in the last two months of 2024, rent declines grew somewhat larger. Consistent with weaker rent growth, rental vacancy was 5.9% in the third quarter of 2024, its highest level in 10 years. The greater slack in the rental market relative to recent years will help the market flex to accommodate those displaced by the fires, but rents are likely to begin to increase as a result.Ìý

So far, traffic on Realtor.com to rental listings in Los Angeles from local residents has climbed by twice as much since the start of 2025 as traffic to for-rent listings nationwide. We expect to see elevated search activity in the rental market in the near-term.