The short version
Los Angeles County home sales slowed sharply from a year ago in September, even as prices kept rising. In its September 2026 sales and price report, released Monday morning, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) said closed sales of existing single-family homes in the county fell 10.9% from September 2025. Sales did rise 5.4% from August, and the county's median sold price climbed to $994,670, up 5% from August and 1.2% from a year earlier.
The report arrives as mortgage rates keep climbing. For LA agents, sellers and buyers, the data describes a market with fewer buyers, slowly growing inventory and prices that have not given way yet.
Who publishes these numbers and how
C.A.R. is a Sacramento-based trade group for real estate agents with nearly 190,000 members. Each month it gathers closed sales from more than 90 local Realtor associations and multiple listing services (MLSs), the shared databases agents use to list homes. The county figures cover existing single-family detached homes only, so condos, townhomes and new construction are not included.
Three terms help read the report:
- Median sold price is the middle sale: half of homes sold for more, half for less. C.A.R. warns that a median moves when the mix of homes sold changes, so a higher median does not mean a given house gained that much value.
- Seasonally adjusted annualized rate is how the statewide sales number is expressed: the number of homes that would sell in a full year at September's pace, adjusted for normal seasonal swings. County sales changes are raw counts and are not seasonally adjusted.
- Unsold Inventory Index is the number of months it would take to sell every listed home at the current sales pace. A lower number means a tighter market.
What the September report shows for LA County
According to C.A.R.'s county table:
- The median sold price was $994,670, compared with $946,950 in August and $983,230 in September 2025.
- Sales were down 10.9% from a year earlier and up 5.4% from August.
- The Unsold Inventory Index was 4 months, up from 3.9 in August and 3.7 a year earlier.
- The median home took 30 days to sell, the same as August and one day faster than a year ago.
The wider region looks similar. Southern California posted the steepest annual sales decline of C.A.R.'s five regions, down 9.1%, as Mortgage Professional America reported. The Los Angeles metro area, which C.A.R. defines as Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, had a median of $855,000, up 3% from a year ago, with sales down 8%. Next door, Orange County sales fell a milder 2% from a year earlier while its median rose to $1.48 million, according to MyNewsLA's coverage.
Statewide, sales ran at an annualized 260,410 homes, down 6.5% from a year earlier and the 48th straight month below 300,000. The statewide median was $899,720, up 1.7% from a year ago. Some early coverage, including Hoodline's report, described the county price figures as averages; C.A.R.'s table labels them medians.
Why sales fell: higher mortgage rates
C.A.R. tied the slowdown to borrowing costs. By its calculation from Freddie Mac data, the 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.86% in September, up from 6.67% in August and 6.35% a year earlier.
Rates have kept rising since. Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.40% as of Oct. 15, compared with 6.27% a year earlier. Freddie Mac is a government-chartered company that buys home loans from lenders, and the survey averages rates on thousands of loan applications submitted to it each week.
Closed sales trail contracts by weeks, so September closings mostly reflect deals signed in July and August, Redfin noted in its September pending sales report. Contracts give the earlier signal: Redfin found pending sales (homes under contract that have not closed) in the Los Angeles metro fell 16% from a year earlier in September, one of the largest drops among the 50 biggest U.S. metros.
The payment math shows why. On a home at the county's September median of $994,670 with 20% down, the loan is about $795,700. At last September's 6.35% average, principal and interest run about $4,950 a month. At 7.40%, it is about $5,510, roughly $560 more every month before property taxes and insurance (our calculation for a standard 30-year fixed loan).
Affordability was already tight before the latest increase. C.A.R.'s second-quarter affordability index found 19% of California households could afford a median-priced home, assuming 20% down. In LA County the share was 17%, with a minimum income of $219,200 needed for a $5,480 monthly payment, per C.A.R.'s county figures compiled by CalHomeNews.
Why prices have not dropped
C.A.R. points to two forces holding prices up.
The first is the mortgage rate lock-in effect: owners who financed at lower rates in past years are reluctant to sell and take on a new loan at today's rates. That keeps new listings scarce, and C.A.R. said the statewide rise in active listings came mostly from slower sales, not more sellers. C.A.R. chief economist Jordan Levine said the September drop in pending sales points to further softening in closed sales, but that limited supply is cushioning prices, so slower sales may not bring a comparable price decline in the near term.
The second is the mix of homes selling. Statewide, million-dollar homes made up 35.9% of September sales, up from 35.2% in August. When pricier homes are a bigger share of closings, the median rises even if individual homes are not worth more. C.A.R. did not break out that share for LA County, so the county's 5% one-month jump in the median should be read with care.
The other view: a buyer's market is building
Redfin, a national brokerage that publishes its own MLS-based data, reads the same period as tilting toward buyers. It estimated the Los Angeles metro had 72.9% more sellers than buyers in September, about 22,967 sellers to 13,282 buyers, and classified it as a buyer's market. Redfin uses that label when sellers outnumber buyers by more than 10%.
Redfin's head of economic research, Chen Zhao, said slower sales mean prices may flatten or fall in the not-so-distant future, and advised sellers to price realistically from the start and consider concessions such as covering closing costs or paying for a rate buydown. Nationally, Redfin said 14.5% of deals that went under contract in September were canceled, the highest share in its records.
Listing counts point the same way. Realtor.com data published in the St. Louis Fed's FRED database show 15,374 active single-family and condo listings in LA County in September, up from 15,279 in August and 14,159 in May.
What happens next
- Oct. 22: Freddie Mac publishes its next weekly rate survey, as it does every Thursday at noon Eastern.
- Nov. 5: Realtor.com's October listing counts for LA County are scheduled to post on FRED.
- C.A.R.'s October report: no date was given in Monday's release. Because closings lag contracts, the October rate increase will show up in closed sales over the coming months.
What it means for LA agents
- Price off nearby comps and price per square foot, not the county median. A one-month median jump can reflect which homes happened to close. Pull the most recent closed and pending sales in the immediate neighborhood before setting a list price.
- Sell the monthly payment, not just the price. A buyer facing about $560 more a month than a year ago needs options. Ask lenders about rate buydowns and seller credits early, and build them into pricing conversations with sellers.
- Plan for a longer launch and more fallout. Inventory is at 4 months in the county and cancellations hit a record nationally. Pre-listing inspections and complete disclosures up front reduce surprises in escrow.
- Coach buyers to negotiate. C.A.R. President Tamara Suminski said easing competition gives well-prepared buyers more room to negotiate rather than rushing to make an offer. Pre-approved buyers can ask for repairs, credits and longer contingency periods.
- Make the listing show-ready on day one. When buyers have more choices, homes that look neglected sit longer and take price cuts. Fix obvious maintenance items, stage key rooms and price close to the comps from the first day.