Homes.com
found
that
the
Eaton
fire
destroyed
about
5,560
homes
located
in
seven
neighborhoods,
with
an
estimated
value
of
$7.8
billion.
The
Palisades
fire
destroyed
approximately
5,480
homes
across
11
neighborhoods,
with
an
estimated
value
of
$22
billion.

Combined,
the
January
2025
fires
have
destroyed
roughly
11,000
homes
with
an
estimated
value
of
nearly
$30
billion.
Neighborhoods
in
Altadena
alone
lost
more
than
$7.5
billion
in
value.

“These
are
the
two
most
destructive
wildfires
in
modern

California
history,
and
probably
the
modern
history
of
the
country,
I
would
imagine,”
said
Jesse
Gundersheim,
senior
director
of
market
analytics
for
Orange
County
and
the
Inland
Empire
at


CoStar
Group,
the
parent
company
of
Homes.com.

“What
we
did
is
took
all
of
our
internal
homes,
data,
inventory,
our
parcels,
and
we
matched
the
fire
data
into
that.
So,
that’s
why
we
were
able
to
come
up
with
all
the
totals,
acknowledging
that
certainly
not
every
home
within
the
burn
zone
was
destroyed.”

Gundersheim
added
that
the
company’s
analysis
includes
the
value
of
destroyed
real
estate.
“There’s
a
point
to
keep
in
mind
that

rebuilding
would
probably
cost
a
little
bit
more,”
he
said.
“And
then
on
top
of
it,
there’s
going
to
be
billions
of
dollars
of
infrastructure
improvements
that
will
need
to
be
made
as
well.”

Mike
Hardy,
a
Los
Angeles-based
managing
partner
for


Churchill
Mortgage,
is
concerned
about
the
preexisting
housing
shortage
in
LA.

“The
population
is
much
greater
than
the
homes
available
for
sale
or
rent.
The
fire
devastation
will
certainly
cause
a
tight
housing
market
to
get
even
tighter,”
Hardy
told

HousingWire.
“Tens
of
thousands
of
folks
will
need
to
find
rental
housing
that
is
already
in
short
supply,
exacerbating
an
already
challenging
situation.
As
prices
are
a
function
of
supply
and
demand,
we
will
now
have
less
supply
and
more
demand,
so
that
will
inevitably
push
up
rental
expenses.” 

Sean
Roberts,
CEO
of


Villa
Homes,
estimates
the
total
loss
for
the
fires
at
$200
billion
to
$250
billion.

“The
scale
of
what’s
happened
is
pretty
hard
to
get
your
head
around
—
it’s
over
16,000
structures
that
have
been
destroyed,”
Roberts
said.
“When
we
compare
this
to
the
Camp
Fire
in
California’s
Butte
County
a
few
years
back,
the
median
home
price
there
was
like
$275,000,
and
in
the
Palisades,
the
median
home
price
there
is
like
$3.4
million.
And
in
Altadena,
it’s
like
$1.3
million,
so
the
magnitude
of
the
dollar
loss
is
significantly
high.”

Roberts
said
he
imagines
that
Pacific
Palisades
and
Altadena
will
have
higher
pressure
to
rebuild
due
to
their
urban
proximity,
which
could
force
people
to

build
more
creatively.

“One
of
the
things
that
we’ve
been
intrigued
by
is
a
way
for
people
who
have
had
their
home
burned
down,
and
perhaps
they
can’t
recover
through

insurance,
is
using
some
of
the
land-use
reform
laws
in
California
to
be
able
to
think
about
rebuilding
their
land
differently,”
he
said.

“And
so,
in
California,
there
are
legal
pathways
to
being
able
to
carve
up
a
single-family
lot
and
potentially
separate
it
into
different
simple
properties
and
or
build
additional
units
there.”