Los Angeles Supply
Inventory rose 4.2%.
New listings fell 1.9% from a year earlier. That combination points to homes accumulating because fewer buyers are signing contracts, rather than a rush of owners putting properties on the market.
Market Shift
More listings. More price cuts. More room to negotiate.
Los Angeles buyers have more leverage than they did a year ago, while higher mortgage rates continue to limit what that leverage can buy.
National Active Listings+5.4%
National Median List Price-1.4%
National Sales With Concessions44.7%
The National Setup
Inventory is recovering because demand is slowing.
Realtor.com counted 1.16 million active listings in September, up 5.4% from a year earlier and only 9.1% below the typical pre-pandemic level. Yet the number of homes under contract fell 4.1%. The additional choice is being created partly by properties remaining available longer, not by a surge of new sellers.
Price reductions followed. Nationally, 20.8% of active listings had a cut, the highest September share since 2018. The median list price fell 1.4% year over year to $419,250, while price per square foot declined 1.7%.
Buyers have more negotiating room. The monthly payment still decides how far it goes.
Los Angeles Pricing
The median list price fell 5.9%.
The metro median was $1,034,500. Price per square foot declined 2.8%, providing a cleaner measure of softening after accounting for changes in the size of homes being listed.
Price Reductions
17.1% of listings took a cut.
That share increased 1.9 percentage points from September 2025. Even so, Los Angeles homes sold two days faster than a year ago, evidence that well-positioned properties can still move promptly.
Beyond The Asking Price
More than half of Los Angeles buyers received a concession.
Redfin reports that 56.2% of Los Angeles-area purchases included a seller concession during the three months ending August 2026. The national rate was 44.7%. Los Angeles was nearly unchanged from a year earlier, but its concession rate remained well above the national figure.
A concession is separate from a price reduction. It may cover closing costs, repairs, or a mortgage-rate buydown. Nationally, 15.8% of August sales included both a concession and an earlier price cut. Buyers should compare where each dollar helps most: cash at closing, a necessary repair, the monthly payment, or the amount borrowed.
The Rate Constraint
Negotiating power has not restored purchasing power.
The average 30-year mortgage rate rose from 6.66% in late August to 7.03% by September 24. Realtor.com estimates that move removed about $11,500 of purchasing power from a buyer working with a fixed monthly budget.
That helps explain why more listings and lower asking prices have not produced more pending sales. As Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale observed, buyers are gaining leverage while higher rates limit how much of the opportunity they can use.
The Los Angeles Read
The market is giving both sides clearer instructions.
For buyers
More inventory creates time to compare properties and negotiate. A credit toward closing costs or a permanent rate buydown may improve affordability more immediately than the same reduction in price. Temporary buydowns should be measured against the payment due after the introductory period ends.
For sellers
The first asking price matters. Buyers can see more alternatives, and a late reduction may simply confirm that the original price was ambitious. Strong presentation should make the property's condition, location, design, outdoor space, or other distinctive value easy to understand before a buyer begins comparing it with more commoditized inventory.
Source note: this page is original commentary based on RISMedia's October 7, 2026 coverage, Realtor.com's September 2026 Monthly Housing Trends Report, and Redfin's August 2026 seller-concessions analysis. Realtor.com figures use listing data; Redfin's concession figures are based on purchases involving Redfin buyers' agents and describe the three months ending August 31. Metro data may not match city boundaries. Information and figures are subject to errors and omissions; readers should independently verify all market, financing, tax, legal, and property-specific information with appropriate professionals.
View the RISMedia articleView the Realtor.com report
View the Redfin analysis
Property Strategy
Buying or selling in a market with more room to negotiate?
LA Creative Realty can help compare pricing, concessions, financing, condition, and the local competition around a specific property.
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