Are Long Beach Home Prices Going Up or Down?
Are Long Beach home prices going up or down?
Right now, the honest answer is: both things are happening, depending on what you are measuring.
Closed-sale prices are higher than they were a year ago. At the same time, asking prices and price per square foot have softened. Inventory is a little higher, buyers have more opportunities to negotiate on some properties, and a significant share of listings are still taking price reductions.
And this is where I think the Long Beach market gets interesting. The city is not moving as one market. The experience of a seller with a well-priced detached home can be very different from the experience of a seller with an overpriced property, a condo or a home competing against several better alternatives.
The Latest Numbers Are Sending Mixed Signals
Realtor.com’s September 2026 Long Beach data shows a median sold price of $860,000, up 5.17% from a year earlier. At the same time, the median listing price is $725,000, down 2.73% year over year. Median price per square foot is $635, down 2.11%. There are 1,096 active listings, up 2.73% from a year ago, and median days on market are 54 days. Realtor.com currently classifies Long Beach as a balanced market. [Source: Realtor.com Economic Research, September 2026.]
Redfin’s trailing three-month data through August tells a similar story from a different angle. The median sale price was $899,405, up 5.8% year over year. Homes were selling in about 43 days, compared with 50 days a year earlier. But 30.1% of homes had price drops, and the average sale-to-list ratio was 99.8%.
So which number is right?
They both are. They are simply measuring different parts of the market and using different methodologies.
Sold Prices Are Up. That Does Not Mean Every Home Is Worth More.
This is an important distinction for homeowners.
When the median sale price rises, it means the homes that sold during the measurement period sold at higher prices than the comparable period a year earlier. It does not mean every home in Long Beach appreciated by the same percentage.
If the mix of homes selling changes, the median can move even when individual properties are behaving differently.
That is why I am much more interested in the comparable sales around a specific property than I am in telling a homeowner, “Long Beach prices are up 5%.” That statement may be true at the citywide median and still be a poor way to price your particular house.
Asking Prices Are Telling a Different Story
The softer listing-price numbers are important because asking prices represent what sellers are currently trying to get.
Realtor.com’s September data puts the Long Beach median listing price at $725,000, down 2.73% year over year. Price per square foot is also down 2.11%.
That tells me sellers are having to pay closer attention to what buyers are willing to pay. It does not mean sellers have lost all pricing power.
In fact, the latest single-family data shows why the market cannot be summarized as simply a buyer’s market.
Single-Family Homes Are Showing More Strength
Altos Research’s September 28 report for Long Beach single-family homes shows a median list price of $999,999 and 275 active listings. Its Market Action Index is 43, which it classifies as a slight seller’s advantage. Altos also reports that home sales have been exceeding new inventory for several weeks.
But there is another number I find particularly interesting: 35% of active single-family listings have reduced their price.
That combination tells me the market is selective. There is enough demand to support well-positioned homes, but that does not mean buyers will accept every seller’s price.
Price Range Matters More Than the Citywide Average
The current single-family data makes this especially clear.
Altos breaks the Long Beach SFR market into price segments. Its September 28 report shows median days on market of about 28 days for one segment around $899,000, compared with about 42 days around $1.2 million and 70 days around $2.2 million.
That is a big difference.
A buyer shopping around $900,000 may be competing with a very different group of buyers than someone shopping at $2 million or more. The supply of homes, number of qualified buyers and consequences of a higher mortgage payment all change as the price rises.
This is one reason I would never tell a Long Beach homeowner that their property should simply be priced based on the citywide median.
Mortgage Rates Are Still Changing the Equation
Mortgage rates are another reason the market feels different from the market buyers experienced several years ago.
Freddie Mac’s September 24, 2026 survey shows the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.03%, up from 6.95% the previous week and 6.30% one year earlier.
At a rate around 7%, the monthly payment has become a much larger part of the buyer’s decision. That limits how much some buyers can spend even when they like the house.
It also creates an interesting situation for sellers. A seller may believe a property is worth a certain price based on last year’s comparable sales, but today’s buyer may be looking at the same house through a very different monthly-payment calculation.
Why Some Homes Still Get Multiple Offers
If you have been following the market, you may wonder how homes can still receive multiple offers when so many listings are sitting and reducing their prices.
The answer is that buyers do not treat every listing equally.
A well-priced home in a desirable location that is clean, updated and easy to understand can still attract strong interest. Buyers who have been waiting may move quickly when they finally see a property that checks the right boxes.
On the other hand, a home that is overpriced, needs substantial work or has an obvious drawback can sit even while another property nearby sells quickly.
That is why I think “the Long Beach market” is becoming less useful as a description. The specific property matters more.
Condos and Other Property Types Need Their Own Analysis
I would also be careful about applying single-family-home trends directly to condos and townhomes.
A condo buyer is not evaluating only the purchase price. HOA dues, insurance, building condition, reserves and the possibility of special assessments all affect the monthly cost and the buyer’s willingness to pay.
The same principle applies to neighborhood. A Downtown condo, a Belmont Shore property, a Bixby Knolls home and a Lakewood Village house can have very different buyer pools and very different comparable sales.
For example, current Realtor.com ZIP-level data shows how wide the spread can be. In 90815, the September median sold price is $1,192,500, up 11.25% year over year, while median days on market are 58. In 90808, the median sold price is $1,078,250, down 0.35% year over year, with a 37-day median. In 90806, the median sold price is $769,000, up just 1.18%, with 50 days on market.
Those numbers should not be treated as neighborhood forecasts because each ZIP contains a different mix of properties and the sample sizes are limited. But they illustrate the point: Long Beach does not move as one market.
What I Am Watching Next
For the next few months, I am watching four things.
Mortgage rates. At roughly 7%, affordability remains a major constraint. A meaningful move lower could bring more buyers back into the market, while higher rates would put additional pressure on affordability.
Inventory. Realtor.com shows active Long Beach listings up 2.73% year over year. That is not a dramatic increase, but it gives buyers somewhat more choice than they had a year ago.
Price reductions. If the percentage of listings requiring reductions continues to rise, that would be a sign that sellers are having to adjust expectations. Right now, roughly one-third of active SFR listings in Altos’ data have reduced their price.
The spread between good and mediocre listings. This may be the most important one. I expect correctly priced homes in desirable locations to continue behaving differently from properties where the seller is testing the market with an unrealistic number.
So, Are Long Beach Prices Going Up or Down?
If you force me to give the market one sentence, here is how I would describe it:
Long Beach home values are holding up, but buyers are becoming more selective and sellers are having to work harder to justify their asking price.
That is different from saying prices are crashing. It is also different from saying everything is appreciating.
The latest data shows higher closed-sale prices, softer asking prices, modestly higher inventory and significant price reductions. At the same time, the single-family market still shows a slight seller’s advantage in the latest Altos analysis.
In other words, the market is not giving buyers or sellers one simple story.
Bao’s Take
I would not make a Long Beach real estate decision today based on whether someone tells you prices are going up or down. The more useful question is what is happening to the type of property you are actually buying or selling. Right now, I see a market where good homes can still command strong attention, but buyers are much less willing to overlook an aggressive price. That puts more pressure on accurate pricing and gives prepared buyers more opportunities to negotiate when a property has been sitting. If you are selling, I would rather price correctly from the beginning than start high and spend the next two months chasing the market down.
If you are trying to figure out what the current market means for your particular Long Beach property, start with the neighborhood, property type and recent comparable sales. You can explore my Long Beach neighborhood guide, or contact me if you want to talk through what I am seeing in your specific market.
