In Altadena’s Housing Market, “It’s a Dance”

A healthy dose of skepticism should be applied when you hear an agent talk about plentiful market opportunities to buy.

Yet, even in the mixed bag that is Altadena’s residential landscape, it would seem the buyer window for “getting in” is quite open.

Altadena’s median sale price over the past five years peaked in September 2023 to $1.5 million, which was a nearly 20 percent gain over the year-ago period, according to Redfin.

Pricing of course dropped immediately after the Eaton fire, with March of last year seeing median sale prices drop 43 percent to $710,000. You could call a bit of a bounce back in looking at February of this year when the median was $990,000.

Still, in an interview with The Agency’s Lisa Ashworth, she tempered any sentiment around market stability, given the market’s nowhere near the recent peak. That’ll take time–Ashworth guessed years.

However, the agent is optimistic considering her comparison to Eagle Rock’s residential runup in the early aughts to where Altadena was heading before last January’s fire.

Gen X and Millennial buyers pre-Eaton fire were exploring Altadena, attracted to the unincorporated Los Angeles County area’s unique “vibe” as many residents would describe it.

Ashworth offered a good example that painted the picture of demand. Pre-Eaton fire, she listed a home for a seller at $949,000, received 17 offers in a week and sold it for $1.4 million. Pre-fire homes sat on the market between seven to 14 days, she said. Now, it’s more like just over two months.

Market comps are hard to come by making it more difficult to price homes and anticipate what a buyer might pay. Older, unique homes, of which there are many in Altadena, add to the complexity.

“It’s always been nuanced,” Ashworth said, “but now more than ever it’s incredibly nuanced. It’s a dance quite honestly trying to determine the right price and what a buyer’s going to pay.”

Coming out ahead

Not that it’s a race, but a statement of fact is that Altadena has more homes rebuilt post-Eaton fire than the Pacific Palisades.

A total of 31 residential projects have been completed in the Eaton fire-impacted area, according to Los Angeles County data as of Friday. The completion count is at one for the Palisades, the County reported.

The answers to why are complex. Williams Rebuild President Dan Faina’s experience in pitching prospective Palisades clients might offer one explanation.

The local developer has 30 Altadena residential projects in various stages of rebuilding. It was never the company’s intent to only focus on Altadena. In fact, Williams Rebuild offered nearly 100 building proposals to Palisades families and “really didn’t get anywhere,” he said. Faina likened it to a “chicken or egg kind of thing.”

That is, while the homeowners Williams Rebuild spoke with were mindful of costs, they also wanted a level of customization that would inevitably increase pricing.

Additionally, in the case of financing gaps many homeowners face when it comes to the cost of their rebuilds compared to what their insurance carriers are willing to give, Altadena may also be coming out ahead.

For starters, Southern California Edison is offering compensation to homeowners and renters impacted by the Eaton fire. There are also non-profits, such as Habitat for Humanity, offering low or no interest financing, Faina pointed out.

Former Mayweather, Niami residence takes price cut

A home luxury developer Nile Niami sold to undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. just saw another price reduction.

The home at 917 North Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills is down to a $27.3 million asking price, which is reduced from a high of $38 million.

The latest ask is getting close to what Mayweather paid Niami for the home in 2017, which was $25.5 million and came not long after the boxer bagged the $100 million purse from his win over Conor McGregor.

Newport Beach nabs another whopper

Here we go with Newport Beach, again.

Agents from Compass and Coldwell Banker Realty closed up the $33.5 million deal of 2668 Bayshore Drive this week. That’s a new historical record for the gated Bayshores community and now the County’s second priciest home sale of 2026.

Those records are nothing to scoff at but take a look at what the deal equates to on a price-per-square-foot basis: $5,115.

Just for the sake of comparison, the median sale price per square foot in Newport Beach was $1,500 in February, according to Redfin. Radiating out to Los Angeles County, Beverly Hills’ median sale price per square foot that same month was about $1,700, while Malibu was $1,500 per square foot, per Redfin data.