Redfin has found that 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.
When examining 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 that 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,” said Gregory Eubanks, Redfin Premier Agent. “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 bids 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.”
CoreLogic has announced its preliminary residential and commercial loss estimates for the Eaton and Palisades Fires, and according to this data, ongoing losses from the Los Angeles wildfires are estimated to be between $35 to $45 billion, as both fires were less than 50% contained as January 16. CoreLogic’s analysis of both residential and commercial properties accounts for both fire and smoke damage as well as demand surge, debris removal, clean up and Additional Living Expenses (ALE). The majority of losses are to residential properties. Many of the potentially impacted properties are high value homes, so even moderate damage from the fires or smoke could result in costly claims.
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 accounted for the vast majority (89%; 5,636) of the homes 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 search term “Los Angeles homes for rent” has jumped 186% since the first week of this year as people displaced by the fires look for housing. There have been reports that some property owners are hiking rents as demand soars.
“The fires are impacting a lot of deals,” added Alin Glogovicean, Redfin Premier Agent. “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.”
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.
“The destruction caused by these fires is anticipated to be the most expensive in the state’s history with effects on the insurance industry that will persist into the future. This event highlights the paramount challenge for homeowners and the insurers that support them–the increasing density of homes and properties near the wildlife-urban-interface,” said Tom Larsen, Senior Director of CoreLogic Insurance Solutions. “Los Angeles is a resilient community, and as they look to rebuild it will be essential to design or redesign with mitigation practices in mind, so an event of this magnitude never happens again.”
