Single family homes accounted for 89% of homes destroyed or damaged by the fires
Roughly one of every seven (14%) homes within the perimeters of the Palisades and Eaton fires in the Los Angeles area 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 according to a new analysis from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage.
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.
“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
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.
“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
Redfin’s analysis divided 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. It does not include commercial structures.
Please contact the American Red Cross to learn about offering financial assistance: https://www.redcross.org/.
For the latest analysis of the LA fires, as they relate to the housing market, please visit:
https://www.redfin.com/news/los-angeles-wildfires-housing-statistics
