East Malibu has a high number of second homes
Headlines have often focusedonhomes owned by the ultra-wealthy burning down from the fires that have swept Los Angeles, includinga$450,000-per-month mansion filmed in the HBO show "Succession" and Paris Hilton's $8.4 million Malibu home.
But property data acquired by ConsumerAffairs revealsthe numberof second homes andinvestment homes typicallyaren'tmuch higher than normalin the areas hit by LA fires, with a few exceptions.
Among 10 ZIP codes where the the Palisades or Eaton fires have burned, an average of 10% were either second homes or investment homes,which are often used for long-term or short-term rentals, according to a ConsumerAffairs analysis of estimates based on mortgages from 2018 to 2023 provided by Homebuyer.com.
In the Pacific Palisades ZIP code of 90272, which fires almost completely destroyed, nearly 8% of the homes were second homes or investment properties.
That compares to the Los Angeles County share of nearly 7% and California's and the U.S.'s share of nearly 8%.
Fires, which are still being fought, have destroyed more than 12,300 structures as of Friday, according to CalFire, but the ZIP codes identified by ConsumerAffairs had 102,143 homes as of 2023 Census estimates,meaning most homes aren't destroyed since the fires haven't fully engulfed all the postal regions.
The data also doesn't cover all-cash home purchases, which havegrown more popular in recent years incompetive housing markets because of high interest rates.
Still, some areas where fires have burned had higher shares of second homes or investment homes than usual.
In ZIP codes hit by the Palisades fire, the average was nearly 14%, compared to nearly 7% for those hit by the Eaton fire.
The East Malibu ZIP code of 90265, where the Palisades fire burned down beachfront homes, had the highest share by far: Nearly 34% of homes in the postal region are second homes or investment properties.
"Fires in LA County are tough on towns with a lot of second homes," Dan Green, founder of Homebuyer.com, told ConsumerAffairs. "When people stop visiting, local businesses take a big hit."
But having a second home isn'ton the minds of many people who have seen their only house burn down,including in Altadena which has much fewer second homes.
The Altadena ZIP code of 91001, where the Eaton fire burned,had the lowest share of second homes or investment homes at nearly 4%, compared with the California share of nearly 8%.
What about short-term vacation rentals?
Airbnb and VRBO vacation rentals also aren't out of the ordinaryamong ZIP codeswhere fires burned, according to figures provided to ConsumerAffairs by rental-data firm AirDNA.
Most of the ZIP codes averaged around 1% of properties for entire home or apartment rental listings on Airbnb and VRBO, which is in line with national averages.
But the 90290 ZIP code in Calabasas and 90265 ZIP code in East Malibu did have highershares of around 11% and 7% of properties as short-term vacation rentals, respectively.
The 90049 ZIP code encompassing Crestwood Hills had the lowest share of vacation rentals at around half a percent.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Posted: 2025-01-18 16:09:28
