A new report from Realtor.com shows 15,841 residential properties were within the designated fire boundaries of the Palisades and Eaton Fires, with a total value of $40.3 billion.
The report indicated that the median home inside the Palisades Fire zone had a value of $3 million. The median home in the Eaton Fire had a value of $1.3 million.
By comparison, the median home in the Los Angeles area is $870,500.
The report noted that the extent of the damage inside the fire zones has not been fully assessed, but over $40 billion of residential value is within the fires’ boundaries, and therefore at risk.
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The residences represent about 2% of Los Angeles County’s total home value. The Realtor.com report noted that the wildfires could exacerbate an already struggling housing market in the area.
Realtor.com said that between 2013 and 2023, the Los Angeles metro area added roughly 290,000 new households, and issued about 107,000 single-family building permits. The report indicated that the emphasis on multi-family housing over single-family homes has “kept competition fierce and home prices high.”
The report found that over three-quarters of those living in and around the fire zones were homeowners. Realtor.com expects many of those homeowners will seek temporary rental housing, placing additional strain on an area that already has the fourth-highest monthly rental rates in the U.S.
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