A year after the Palisades and Eaton wildfires swept through parts of Los Angeles County in January 2025, new data from Zillow reveals that approximately $46 billion in residential housing value was located within the fire perimeters, highlighting the significant exposure of high-value homes to wildfire risk.
According a Zillow analysis, 19,605 residential units were within the boundaries of the two fires as of December 31, 2024. Homes in these areas had a median value of nearly $1.95 million, underscoring the concentration of wealth at risk when the blazes ignited.
The fires consumed some of the region’s most valuable residential properties and forced widespread displacement. Before containment, the blazes burned through roughly 40,000 acres and threatened nearly 20,000 homes, of which more than 11,000 single-family houses were destroyed. The wildfires also resulted in at least 30 confirmed fatalities.
Zillow’s findings indicate that the housing market impacts extend beyond the immediate destruction. While home values in areas close to the fire perimeters have generally followed broader Los Angeles metro trends — with a 1.7% decrease within five miles of the burn zones through November 2025 — inventory and rental dynamics tell a more complex story.
"The fires cut through some of the Los Angeles area's most valuable homes, where the median value approached $2 million," said Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow. "While home values nearby have dipped a bit, in line with broader Los Angeles trends, the most evident impact was on supply. The sharp increase in listings just outside the burn zones likely reflects a mix of homeowners accelerating planned sales or owners of second homes deciding to list in response to the sudden shift in local demand. Displaced homeowners who were forced to become renters and a shift in tenure choice appear to have contributed to the increase in rents relative to prices."
In the aftermath of the wildfires, the for-sale housing supply surged sharply. New listings within five miles of the fire zones jumped 194 percent in January 2025 compared with December 2024, and active inventory remained significantly elevated through November 2025. This contrasts with a 91 percent increase in new listings in areas more than 20 miles from the fires.
Rental markets also shifted as median list rents within five miles of the fire perimeters rose 3.4% through November 2025, compared with a 1.7% increase in more distant parts of the Los Angeles metro. Analysts credit these trends to displaced homeowners turning to the rental market and broader changes in tenure choice.
The report further notes that 94% of properties that burned were classified as having “severe” or “extreme” wildfire risk by First Street data, compared with only 21% identified as “very high” risk by Cal Fire maps, illustrating discrepancies in risk modeling approaches.
