a Realtor.com analysis<\/a> that tracked the dramatic shift in values between late 2024 and the second half of 2025.<\/p>\nFirefighters watch a home burn in the Pacific Palisades in early January 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Collective property values of homes in the Pacific Palisades took a roughly $5.2 billion hit. AP<\/p>\n
The shocking total loss in values between the two communities was based on the average of home values collected by real estate analytics firms Cotality and Quantarium. Realtor.com\u2019s analysis of the data included only properties assessed by the\u00a0California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection \u2014 meaning that a substantial number of affluent Pacific Palisades and working-class Altadena properties were not even counted.<\/p>\n
Despite its enormity, the $8.3 billion figure also excludes Malibu, Topanga and other areas that were also affected by the fires in early 2025.<\/p>\n
Collective property values of destroyed, damaged and untouched homes in the Pacific Palisades took a roughly $5.2 billion hit, according to the analysis. Working-class Altadena fared little better, with approximately $3.1 billion in total property value losses. <\/p>\n
In both the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, homes bought between 2020 and 2024, and later sold as lots last year, went for roughly 50% less than their pre-fire purchase prices, Realtor.com found.<\/p>\n
The dramatic haircut reflects both lost structures and uncertainty about what the future holds. <\/p>\n
The lot of an Altadena home destroyed in the Eaton Fire is pictured below in December. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Efforts to rebuild face insurance headaches and high costs. New York Post<\/p>\n
Cory Weiss of Douglas Elliman told The Post that residents\u2019 efforts to return are hampered by red tape, high overall costs and an immeasurable mental toll.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lots I\u2019ve sold or am going to sell are people that are just not coming back, and they\u2019re moving on with their lives,\u201d Weiss said. <\/p>\n
He has seen the decline in values and subsequent price drops firsthand. A client bought a $30 million brand new estate eight months before the fires. Weiss said initial efforts to help his client purchase the adjoining property valued in the $8 million range were unsuccessful. After the fires, his client was able to secure it for $6 million.<\/p>\n
Those who are able to return to their neighborhoods face not only insurance headaches and soot, but the loss of their surrounding community and vegetation, as well as the constant company of surrounding construction crews.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really turned into a situation where it\u2019s almost going to be like a new town in three to five years,\u201d Weiss said.<\/p>\n
Much of the destroyed homes in the Pacific Palisades remain vacant lots. NY Post<\/p>\n
Just less than 14% of properties destroyed in the Pacific Palisades listed over the past year, according to Realtor.com, with a median list price of $2 million.<\/p>\n
In Altadena, where more than 41% of single-family homes were destroyed, nearly 10% of gutted homes were put on sale over the last year. Asking prices for livable homes \u2014 a local rarity \u2014 increased, and empty lots didn\u2019t linger on the market long.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinancially, the burden of rebuilding and finding a temporary home, a lot of people can\u2019t afford that,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cThat being said, a lot of people in the Palisades are running up against that as well\u201d<\/p>\n
The total value of the Pacific Palisades\u2019 destroyed properties declined by 27%, according to Realtor.com. The analysis charted a drop from $14.7 billion in late 2024 to $10.8 billion this year. Weiss said a majority of his buyers for these lots are investors.<\/p>\n
Even the mere risk of fire has radically affected values \u2014 the valuations of untouched homes within the A-lister enclave\u2019s burn zone dipped by 10%. <\/p>\n
Only the garden of this Altadena home remained at the end of 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Values in Altadena fared even worse.<\/p>\n
The Eaton Fire\u2019s impacts included a 33% loss in property values for destroyed homes \u2014 a dramatic loss in the area\u2019s wealth. The area\u2019s stock of damaged homes also took a 20% hit.<\/p>\n
Altadena homes spared by Eaton saw a collective value loss from $3.8 billion to $3.2 billion, or 16%.<\/p>\n
The Palisades market is seeing increased activity in recent quarters, luxury broker Rochelle Atlas Maize told The Post. Particularly for land purchases, she said, many of which are paid in cash.<\/p>\n
Despite investor interest, Atlas Maize said she\u2019s observed a larger uptick in returning local residents. This local contingent of the market has been able to purchase in neighborhoods they would have been unable to afford prior to the fires, she said.<\/p>\n
An uptick in inventory is expected from insurance payouts and lease terms ending. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Yet a majority of households that lost their homes remained displaced as of October, according to Department of Angels, a fire recovery nonprofit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been so much frustration, because there\u2019s been so many promises from the state and the city, saying they\u2019re going to expedite permits and get everything done quickly, and it just hasn\u2019t happened,\u201d Atlas Maize said. \u201cThe permits are taking forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Households face the decision of continuing to lease interim homes or leaving behind their former communities. The latter choice would result in even more destroyed lots being released to the market, adding to inventory pressure. <\/p>\n
Inventory is expected to pick up even more in the near future, Atlas Maize said, as insurance claims are wrapped up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The value of homes destroyed in the Palisades and Eaton Fires that blazed through Southern California in January…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":495131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2809,7065,2961,224,5337,5418,4329,10204],"class_list":{"0":"post-495130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-wildfires","11":"tag-housing","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-losangeles","15":"tag-luxury-real-estate","16":"tag-real-estate","17":"tag-residential-real-estate"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115845024880368164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}