Home prices in Southern California rose in February, the first increase in seven months.
According to Zillow, average home prices for the six county regions rose 0.3% from January to $874,382 in February.
Home prices have been falling monthly since August, and economists said it reflects consumers and seasonal factors.
High home values and high mortgage rates have made it difficult for potential buyers to bid more on the home. Markets also tend to be slower in autumn and winter.
However, the decline was small, with January prices only at 1.6% of all-time highs reached last summer. A slight increase in February, coinciding with a slight drop in mortgage rates, could be set to escalate values during the usually busy spring sales season.
But Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist at Zillow, hasn’t changed much.
He said mortgage fees this year are unlikely to vary significantly from today’s 6% medium-term range, which should prevent potential home buyers from paying more for their homes and condos.
Existing homeowners also choose to sell, but this should also be covered with prices.
According to Zillow, some homes in LA County sold 32% more than February 2024. This is due to existing homeowners who want to move more and more, rather than keeping cheap mortgages they acquired during the pandemic.
By February 2026, Zillow expects home prices across Los Angeles and Orange counties to rise just 0.1% from last month.
City and Neighborhood Home Prices
Beware of readers
Welcome to the Los Angeles Times Real Estate Tracker. Each month we publish a report containing data on home prices, mortgage fees and rental prices. Reporters will explain the meaning of new data in Los Angeles and the surrounding area, and help them understand what they can expect to pay for apartments and homes. You can read the breakdown of last month’s real estate here.
Explore home prices and rents in February
Use the table below to search for home sales and apartment rental prices by city, neighborhood, and county.
Rental prices in Southern California
Last year, many parts of Southern California have been allowed to rent apartments, but the January LA County fire could reverse the downward trend.
Experts said rising vacancy levels forced landlords to lower rents, but the fire wiped out thousands of homes and suddenly thrust many people into the rental market.
When these people searched for homes, there were extensive reports of illegally priced gouging, with some landlords increasing rent by more than 50%.
Authorities have since filed several criminal and civil lawsuits against landlords and real estate agents, and it is unclear how competitive the larger market will be in the coming months and every year.
Most of the destroyed homes are single-family homes, and some experts expect the biggest increase in rents for large units adjacent to the Pacific Palisade and Altadena burn areas, to be smaller and farther away from the disaster zone, resulting in a reduced pressure on costs.
Rent data for January and February will be investigated early to see what will come.
Santa Monica, which is adjacent to Pacific Pariscedes’ LA City district, rose 3.06% from January to January and 3.06% from December to reach $2,527 last month, according to data from ApartmentList.
Apartment list analyst Rob Warnock said that growth is fast, although not so, as seen close to Eton Fire in Glendale and Pasadena.
Rent growth is actually less than seen in the past few years across the city of Los Angeles, including many areas not adjacent to Palisades and fires. Median apartments in February increased by 0.73% from January. Rents remained unchanged between December and January.
Warnock warned that the data could also accelerate rents for detached houses and apartments in the LA district near the fire, but the apartments don’t have the ability to track them down.
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