The Aftermath of the Flames: How LA’s Wildfires Impacted Local Real Estate Dynamics

Key Takeaways: 

• Home prices within three miles of LA’s early 2025 fire boundaries rose 4% Y-o-Y, matching broader LA County trends and reaching a $1.33 million median sale price. 
• Demand remained sustained as property sales in fire-adjacent zones ticked up 1% Y-o-Y, indicating continued buyer interest despite disaster proximity
• Sale prices rose for single family homes (7%) and condos (6%) near fire perimeters, while two- to four-family homes contracted (6%).
• The area around the Sepulveda Fire saw sharpest growth, with median home prices up 24% Y-o-Y and sales 20%.
• Homes within a three-mile radius of the Palisades burn area saw a 15% median price increase, particularly driven by single family home sales in affluent areas. 
• The weaker markets in near the Hughes and Archer fire boundaries experienced the steepest downturns, with sales near the Hughes Fire cut by nearly a quarter.
• Patterns diverged near individual fires, with modest price growth and declining sales around Eaton & Kenneth, while sales rose and prices dragged near Woodley and Sunset.

Explore the interactive map below to see each fire’s boundary and individual sales that occurred within three miles of burn zone perimeters:

While much of the aftermath of the LA wildfires in early 2025 was naturally focused on humanitarian and environmental consequences, the economic influence — particularly on real estate — continues to shift and evolve. For a quick snapshot of how home sales and prices changed near the nine largest wildfires, we reviewed residential sales data between February and April 2025 and compared it to the same period last year, finding that despite short-term destruction, many high-demand areas remained attractive to buyers, underscoring the strength and complexity of LA’s real estate market post-disaster.

General Overview

Markets in Areas Close to Fire Zone Boundaries Display Resilience, Median Sale Prices Inch Up 4% Y-o-Y 

Housing demand near this year’s largest fires remained steady, with the number of sales unchanged compared to last year, totaling 2,167 transactions between February and April. In fact, homes that sold within three miles of these nine fires represented 17% of all home sales across Los Angeles County in that timeframe.  

Meanwhile, median sale prices ticked up 4% Y-o-Y, climbing to $1.33 million, well above the Los Angeles County median, which stood at $900,000. In fact, price growth near fire perimeters was slightly higher than the county-wide 3% gain. 

Notably, much of the price momentum came from single family properties and condos, which appreciated 7% and 6%, respectively. At the same time, the median sale price for two- to four-family homes depreciated by 6%.

Overall, these changes suggests that, despite natural disaster risks, areas near burn zones remain desirable for buyers.  

However, prices and sales trends fluctuated very differently from fire to fire and even within the same area, with different asset types following mixed trajectories as well. So, to provide a comprehensive overview of the residential real estate dynamics in the immediate aftermath, we took a quick snapshot of home prices and sales trends within three miles of the boundaries of the largest nine fires by size. 

Palisades, Hurst & Sepulveda

3-Mile Ring Around Sepulveda Fire Sees Highest Rise in Sales & Prices, Closely Followed by Palisades Fire  

Areas within a three-mile radius of the boundaries of the Palisades, Hurst and Sepulveda fires saw increases in both the number of sales and the median sale prices. 

Palisades Fire: Median Sale Price Up 15% Near Burn Perimeter 

Along with the Eaton incident, the Palisades Fire is now considered by CalFire as one of the top three most devastating fires ever in California. Even so, within three miles of the fire’s boundaries, home sales have gone up since 2024 and so have prices: Between February and April of this year, the area saw a total of 469 transactions with a median sale price of $2.13 million, representing a 15% Y-o-Y increase in price.  

Throughout the three-mile ring around the Palisades Fire, the number of sales for single family homes increased by 23% Y-o-Y, while the median sale price went up 26%. Additionally, the median sale price for condos climbed 23%, and transactions saw a minor increase, as well. 

Hurst Fire: Single-Family Home Activity Drives Market Gains 

Areas within three miles of the Hurst Fire saw a slight uptick in both sales (3%) and median sale prices (6%), reaching $813,000.

Here, the number of two- to four-family home and condo sales both dropped, but their prices increased.

Conversely, single family homes recorded 25% more sales, but were slightly lower priced year-over-year, standing at a median sale price of $850,000.

Sepulveda Fire: Double-Digits Sales and Price Gains  

The three-mile ring around the Sepulveda Fire’s perimeter saw a notable increase in sales activity, with transactions rising by 20%. What’s more, the median sale price also climbed 24% to reach $3.1 million at the end of April.

And, while the number of condo sales dipped slightly, their median price jumped 23%, although fewer units changed hands. It’s worth noting here that single family homes were especially sought after, with a 28% Y-o-Y rise in transactions and a 21% Y-o-Y increase in median sale price ($3.63 million). 

Eaton, Kenneth, Sunset & Woodley

Mixed Real Estate Trends Near Eaton, Kenneth, Sunset & Woodley Fires Reflect Post-Disaster Market Shifts 

In the aftermath of the Eaton, Kenneth, Sunset and Woodley fires, home sales and median prices showed mixed trends in areas located within a three-mile radius of each fire’s boundary.

Eaton Fire: Overall Sales Dip but Small Multifamily Activity Surges  

Along with the Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire destroyed around 6,000 homes during January and contributed to real estate losses estimated to exceed $30 billion. Despite this, within a three-mile radius outside the Eaten incident perimeter, median sale prices posted a minor increase, while sales declined 7% Y-o-Y.  

Single family homes sales declined the most in this area, slipping 10%, even as the median sale price rose 8% to reach $1.51 million. For comparison, a 45% Y-o-Y increase was seen in the number of sales of two- to four-family homes located within three miles of the Eaton Fire’s boundaries. Moreover, the median sale price for this asset type grew by 16% to reach $1.32 million.  

Kenneth Fire: Sales Fall but Median Prices Edge Up to $1.35M 

Within a three-mile radius outside the Kenneth Fire’s boundaries, median sale price climbed 6% to reach $1.35 million, which is considerably higher than the LA County median.

However, the number of sales dropped 15% Y-o-Y, fueled by a drastic drop in condo sales, which were nearly halved. Meanwhile, a more subdued 11% sales decrease was seen in single family homes. 

Sunset Fire: Sales Rise as Single-Family Activity Grows Amid Flat Prices 

The three-mile ring around the Sunset Fire was yet another one to witness increased sales activity between February and April, logging a 3% Y-o-Y gain.

The overall median sale price in the area remained largely unchanged from the previous year at roughly $1.65 million.

However, single family homes traded for 8% less than during the same period last year, but the number of sales for this asset type rose 14% Y-o-Y. 

Woodley Fire: More Transactions Amid Slight Price Reductions 

Similar to the Sunset Fire, home sales within three miles outside the Woodley Fire’s boundaries went up 15% Y-o-Y to reach a total of 385 transactions, largely driven by single family homes.

However, median sale prices saw a slight decrease, from $981,000 in the year prior to their current $960,000. Even so, single family units and condos in the area both grew in price year-over-year. 

Hughes & Archer

Hughes & Archer-Adjacent Areas See Notable Declines in Both Sales & Prices, Signaling Market Softening 

Two of the recent LA wildfires likely played a significant role in decreasing the number of sales and median sale prices in neighborhoods located within a three-mile radius outside the fire boundaries. 

Hughes Fire: Single-Family Homes Sales Down 24% 

The Hughes-adjacent zone logged only 73 sales between February and April this year — 23% fewer transactions than a year ago.

Sales for single family homes in the three-mile radius outside Hughes Fire perimeter decreased by 24% and condo units by 20%. The median sale prices for both asset types went down, as well, contributing to the area’s overall 8% price decrease.

Notably, areas affected by the Hughes Fire were already on par with the LA County median, standing at $900,000. 

Archer Fire: Sales & Prices Decline

Although Archer was one of the smaller fires in the LA area earlier this year, the housing market in its vicinity saw yearly decreases in both sales activity and median sale prices.

Compared to early 2024, home sales within a three-mile radius outside the fire boundaries dropped by 14%, while prices edged down roughly 3%.  

Beyond the Flames: Conclusions 

Despite the devastation brought by LA’s early 2025 wildfires, the real estate market around many of the affected areas remained relatively resilient. While some areas experienced significant market slowdowns, others — particularly affluent communities — saw rising demand and strong price growth. In many cases, proximity to a fire zone did not deter buyers, a fact that has the potential to drive even more interest and development in areas that are already significantly more expensive than the national benchmark.  

These trends reflect broader dynamics at play in Los Angeles’ housing market. Here, location, property type, tight inventories and questions of affordability continue to shape outcomes, and short-term disaster exposure seems to impact long-term buyer desirability less than expected.  

Explore the interactive table below for detailed home price and sales changes in the areas surrounding the burn zones of LA’s early 2025 wildfires:

Methodology 

For the purposes of this study, we analyzed the residential sales recorded in Los Angeles County between February 1 and April 30, 2025 and February 1 and April 30, 2024, taking into account home sales located within a three-mile radius outside the largest nine LA fires by size in 2025: Palisades, Eaton, Hughes, Kenneth, Hurst, Sepulveda, Sunset, Woodley and Archer.  

We excluded the Lidia Fire as only three sales were recorded within a three-mile radius. 

We determined the number of sales and the median sale prices for the following asset types: two- to four-family homes, condo units and single-family homes. Package deals were excluded. 

Median sale prices were rounded to the nearest $1,000. 

Properties that were within a three-mile radius of multiple fire boundaries were considered in the analysis of all fires they were affected by. 

Fire boundaries were sourced through CalFire, and the three-mile radius around each individual property was determined by expanding official fire perimeter coordinates by three miles in all directions. 

Fair Use & Redistribution 

We encourage and freely grant permission to reuse and repost information, analysis, charts, tables and images included on this page. When doing so, we only ask that you link back to this page or PropertyShark.com as the official source.

About PropertyShark

PropertyShark is an online real estate database and property research tool that provides building details, ownership information, comparable sales, and foreclosure data. Founded in 2003, PropertyShark serves real estate professionals and consumers in New York and other major U.S. markets.