Every summer, the conversations I have with clients follow a pattern I've come to recognize.
Families wondering if they need more space. Empty nesters asking whether a big house still makes sense. Buyers trying to figure out if this is the right moment to stop renting and start owning. Sellers weighing whether to move now or hold for another year.
What I've noticed, after years of these conversations, is that the best ones are rarely about square footage or interest rates. They're about life. A commute that's gotten exhausting. A neighborhood that no longer fits. A home office that doesn't work. A guest room that's long overdue. A different chapter, and the space to live it well.
The clients who make the best decisions don't start with Zillow. They start by getting clear on what they want their life to actually look like.
That clarity matters even more right now, because the LA market is giving people more to work with than they've had in a few years.
More Inventory, More Options, More Strategy Required
Across many Westside neighborhoods, inventory has been climbing. Buyers who have felt squeezed out for years are finding more options, more room to negotiate, and more time to make thoughtful decisions. Sellers, on the other hand, are facing more competition than the market has offered in a while. That means presentation, pricing, and positioning matter more than they did two or three years ago.
This is not a market where things happen automatically. It's one where strategy is the difference.
What the Rental Market Is Telling Buyers
There is a piece of data I've been paying close attention to that I think every LA renter should hear.
According to the first-ever quarterly Los Angeles County Rental Report from Realtor.com, the median asking rent fell to $2,520 in Q1 2026, down 3.7 percent from a year ago and the lowest point since early 2022. A wave of new multifamily construction has been putting steady downward pressure on the market, pulling rents nearly 11 percent below their pandemic-era peak.
That sounds like good news for renters. And in some ways it is. But here's the part that should give serious pause.
A typical rental in Los Angeles still requires a household income of over $107,000 per year. For many families in this city, that threshold remains out of reach. Rents are softer, but the baseline is still expensive. Paying that much each month and building no equity is a real cost that compounds over time.
At the same time, walkable, transit-connected neighborhoods have held their value. Pasadena rents rose nearly 6 percent year over year. Long Beach climbed as well. The data is telling us something I believe strongly: location still drives everything in this city. The right neighborhood does not go on sale.
For renters who have been waiting for the right moment to consider buying, the combination of softening rents and increased inventory in the for-sale market is worth a real conversation.
What KB Home's Departure Says About LA's Housing Future
There is another story worth paying attention to, because I think it says something meaningful about where Los Angeles is heading.
KB Home, one of LA's most storied homebuilders, which has been headquartered in the city since 1963 and helped shape the growth of Southern California's suburbs, recently announced it is relocating its main office to the Phoenix area by spring 2027. The company cited cost reduction and placing employees in a more affordable housing market as key reasons for the move.
Importantly, KB Home says it will maintain six operating divisions in California and continues to build here, with nine new communities opened in Southern California in the last six months and ten more planned before the end of 2026.
So they are not abandoning the California market. But the symbolic weight of a company with roots this deep deciding that its people are better served somewhere more affordable is hard to ignore.
It is one more data point in a longer story about supply constraints in LA. When builders face challenges and costs that push operations elsewhere, it puts additional pressure on the existing housing stock. Less new construction over time means more competition for the homes that are here. That dynamic is not going away, and it is part of why well-located, well-maintained homes in desirable LA neighborhoods continue to hold their value even as the broader conversation about California's affordability gets louder.
A Reminder of What This Is Really About
On a personal note, our family recently gathered at Terranea to celebrate my mother-in-law's 70th birthday. Being together in that setting, overlooking the coast, watching her feel celebrated and surrounded by everyone she loves, reminded me of something I come back to constantly in this work.
Homes matter. The location, the layout, the light coming through the windows in the morning. All of it matters. But what it's really holding is the people inside and the moments they create together. A milestone birthday. A first summer in a new neighborhood. A dinner on a patio with the windows open and nowhere else to be.
That is what people are really buying when they buy a home in Los Angeles. And it is worth taking the time to get it right.
If you are thinking about a move, or simply wondering what your options look like right now, this is a great time to have the conversation. No pressure, no urgency. Just good information and a clear plan.
Reach out whenever you are ready.
Keri
