Home Seller's Listing Guide

What the Los Angeles market looks like for sellers: August 2026

The market turned. Here is what actually changed, with the numbers behind it.

Why the first thirty days decides your price

In eleven of the twelve neighborhoods we track, homes that went into escrow within the first thirty days closed above their asking price. Homes that took thirty-one to sixty days closed below asking in nine of those twelve.

Mount Washington is the widest gap we measured. Homes that sold in the first month closed at 108.2% of asking. Homes that sold in the second month closed at 96.3%. That is a twelve point swing on comparable homes in the same neighborhood in the same year, and the variable is how the home was priced on day one.

You do not get a second first thirty days. Everything after that is a discount.

Why are so many homes sitting on the market right now?

Homes that sell go into escrow in a median of 13 to 19 days across the neighborhoods we cover. The homes still on the market have been listed a median of 24 to 81 days. That is not a slow market. That is a pricing gap.

In Silver Lake and Echo Park, what is currently listed asks a median 12.4% more than what is actually closing. Downtown Los Angeles has 362 homes for sale against 367 sales in an entire year. Those sellers are not waiting for a buyer. They are waiting to accept a number they could have priced at on day one.

How should I price my home in this market?

• Price to what closed in the last thirty days, not to what is listed. The active listings are the homes that did not sell. Pricing against them is pricing against failure.
• Do not test a number. A test costs you the first thirty days, which is the only window where buyers pay above asking. A reduction ninety days in tells every buyer your price was wrong, and the offer that follows comes in under the reduced number, not at it.
• Fix the two or three things a buyer will use against you. Buyers have their inspection contingencies back after years of waiving them. Deferred maintenance now comes off your price in escrow instead of getting overlooked up front.
• Expect to negotiate on terms, not only on price. At 6.66%, buyers are asking for rate buydowns. A seller credit that buys a buyer's rate down often closes the deal without moving your headline price, and it protects the comparable sale for your neighbors.

What does it cost to sell a home, and what changed in 2024?

Your listing agent's compensation has always been negotiable and still is. There is no standard rate and never was one. What changed is the buyer side.

Offers of compensation to a buyer's agent can no longer be published through the MLS, and buyers now sign a written agreement with their own agent stating what that agent is paid before they write an offer. As a seller you can still offer to pay some or all of a buyer's agent fee as a concession, and in a market where buyers are stretched by a 6.66% rate, that concession is frequently what closes the gap. It is a negotiating tool now instead of an automatic line item.

Anything you read on this subject that was written before 2024, including older versions of this page, is out of date.

Rate: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, August 27, 2026. Days on market, sale price to list price by days on market, asking versus closing, and months of supply: The MLS/CLAW, closed sales August 26, 2025 through August 26, 2026 and active inventory as of August 27, 2026, across the Los Angeles neighborhoods we cover. Data deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Compiled by Glenn Shelhamer, The Shelhamer Real Estate Group, CalDRE #01950995.