Pacific Palisades Highlands, Twenty-One Months After the Fire: What Sold, What Burned and What Is Being Rebuilt

Written by Antonio Vaziri, Realtor, Epique Realty, DRE #01927866 · Last updated October 2026

Over the twelve months ending October 16, 2026, buyers in the Pacific Palisades Highlands paid a median of $1,102,500 for 32 empty lots and a median of $2,385,000 for 25 existing houses. Those two numbers sit on the same hillside, sometimes on the same block, and the gap between them is a useful way to read this neighborhood today.

32vacant lot sales, median $1,102,500
25house sales, median $2,385,000
34condominium and townhome sales, median $1,212,500
83signed leases, median $7,000 a month

CRMLS Matrix residential, land and lease searches inside the Pacific Palisades Community Council's Area 2 map, closings from October 16, 2025 through October 16, 2026, pulled October 16, 2026. Data as of October 2026. The condominium figure leaves out four resales in an affordable housing community with eligibility rules, explained below.

Where Palisades Drive draws the line

The Pacific Palisades Community Council divides its territory into eight areas, and it calls Area 2 "The Highlands." Its written description covers Palisades Drive and every street that takes access from it, along with the Santa Ynez Reservoir and Santa Ynez Canyon Park, and it sets the southern edge at Sunset Boulevard. The council's bylaws say its maps govern where the words and the map disagree, so I traced the council's Area 2 map and ran every search on this page inside that shape.

That choice matters for the numbers. The outline reaches all the way down Palisades Drive to Sunset, so it includes the condominiums near the bottom of the road as well as the hillside streets near Topanga State Park. A ZIP code search for 90272 would mix in the rest of Pacific Palisades.

How a 1964 land purchase became about 1,800 homes

The Palisadian-Post traced the Highlands back to 1964, when Sunset International Petroleum closed escrow on 3,550 acres for a reported $14 million. About 1,500 of those acres went to parkland. The project took the name Palisades Highlands in 1966, construction of Palisades Drive began after entitlements were secured in 1968, and the first homes went up in 1971 and 1972 on Avenida de Cortez, Avenida de Santa Ynez and Palisades Circle, with the first sale in November 1972. A gated section of 60 lots known as Country Estates followed in 1976. As a condition set by the Coastal Commission, 100 affordable units were built at Casa Gateway near Sunset. The Summit, the last community, was released in 1987, and the paper counted about 1,800 homes and condominiums by 2015.

You can still see that sequence in this year's sales. The 14 houses built from 1973 through 1977 sold for a median of $2,205,000 with a median of 2,907.5 square feet, and the 11 built from 1985 through 1998 sold for a median of $2,984,100 with a median of 3,847 square feet. Per square foot, the two groups landed close together: $783.63 and $793.79 at the median.

What CAL FIRE inspectors logged inside the Highlands

CAL FIRE reports that the Palisades Fire started at 10:30 a.m. on January 7, 2025, burned 23,448 acres, destroyed 6,845 structures and damaged 975 more, and was fully contained on January 31, 2025. Its damage inspection teams recorded a point for each structure they assessed. I counted the points that fall inside the Area 2 map.

CAL FIRE damage inspection (DINS) records for the 2025 Palisades Fire, structures inside the Community Council's Area 2 map. Counted October 16, 2026.
Structure type Inspected Destroyed (over 50%) Major, minor or affected No damage
Single-family residence 868 192 62 614
Multifamily residence building 170 25 7 138

Read those as counts of buildings, not households or parcels. A multifamily building can hold many units, and a single property can contain more than one inspected structure. The table also does not tell you what has been repaired since. For a specific address, look it up in the county's recovery map and in the city's permit records.

Three separate markets now share one road

This year the cleared lot was a third choice alongside the house and the condominium, and it produced more closed sales than the houses did. The three behaved differently enough that a single average for the neighborhood would hide much of what happened.

Cleared lots: 32 sales, sorted by zoning

Closed land sales inside the Area 2 map, October 16, 2025 through October 16, 2026, grouped by the zoning shown in the MLS. CRMLS Matrix, pulled October 16, 2026.
MLS zoning Sales Median price Median lot
R1 19 $1,020,000 8,673 sq ft
RE15 8 $1,292,500 17,664 sq ft
RE20 2 $1,725,000 26,840 sq ft
RD3, all on Paseo de Oro 3 $938,000 4,058 and 4,827 sq ft, plus one sale on a shared parcel

The 32 land sales ranged from $800,000 to $2,195,000 and spent a median of 83 days on the market. Leaving out one Paseo de Oro sale recorded on a shared association parcel of about two acres, the median lot measured 10,002 square feet. Avenida de la Herradura produced 8 of the land sales and Chastain Parkway produced 7, followed by Monte Hermoso Drive with 4. One lot on Chastain Parkway sold twice inside the year: $900,000 in October 2025 and $1,150,000 in October 2026.

Existing houses: 25 sales

The 25 house sales had a median of $2,385,000, from $1,755,000 to $4,400,000, with a median of 3,117 square feet, $789.75 per square foot and 47 days on the market. Every one was built between 1973 and 1998. Setting aside one sale with no lot size in the MLS and one recorded on a shared association parcel, the median lot measured 7,592 square feet.

The 25 house sales by bedroom count, same period and source.
Bedrooms Sales Median price
3 3 $1,873,000
4 15 $2,385,000
5 5 $2,807,000
6 2 $2,962,500

Condominiums and townhomes: 34 market-rate sales

Attached homes sold for a median of $1,212,500, from $785,000 to $1,919,000, at a median of 1,854.5 square feet and $630 per square foot, and they took longer to sell, a median of 81 days. Sixteen were on Palisades Drive, nine on Palisades Circle and nine on Michael Lane. The 28 built from 1974 through 1979 had a median of $1,130,000, and the 6 built from 1983 through 1995 had a median of $1,630,000. By size, 13 two-bedroom units sold for a median of $1,015,000 and 21 three-bedroom units for a median of $1,400,000.

Four other condominium sales, from $285,000 to $365,484, were one-bedroom units at 501 Palisades Drive, which the MLS lists as an age-restricted affordable housing community. Because buyers there must meet that program's eligibility rules, I kept those four out of the market-rate figures.

Association dues, reserves, insurance arrangements and any fire-related special assessments vary from one association to the next, so read the budget, the minutes and the disclosure package before you write an offer.

A lot next to a house on the same street

Four streets had both land sales and house sales this year. Three of them are below; the fourth, Paseo de Oro, is left out because its one house sale and one of its three lot sales were recorded on the same shared association parcel.

Land and house closings on the same street, October 16, 2025 through October 16, 2026. CRMLS Matrix, pulled October 16, 2026.
Street Lots sold Lot prices Houses sold House prices
Avenida de la Herradura 8 $800,000 to $1,010,000, median $838,000 4 $1,800,000 to $2,450,000, median $2,105,000
Monte Hermoso Drive 4 $926,000 to $1,800,000, median $1,127,500 1 $3,400,000
Calle de Sarah 1 $1,500,000 2 $3,875,000 and $4,400,000

The difference between a lot and a finished house on the same street is not only the cost of building. It also reflects lot size, view, the age and condition of the house, and how much time a buyer is willing to spend on design, permits and construction. Get a builder's bid and a permit timeline for the specific lot before you treat that spread as profit or as savings.

Renting in the Highlands during the rebuild

The lease search on the same map returned 83 closed leases from October 16, 2025 through October 16, 2026, with a median of $7,000 a month, a range of $1,850 to $24,000 and a median of 45 days on the market.

Closed leases inside the Area 2 map, CRMLS Matrix, pulled October 16, 2026.
Rental Leases Median monthly rent
Condominium or townhome, 2 bedrooms 20 $5,122.50
Condominium or townhome, 3 bedrooms 28 $6,500
All 49 condominium and townhome leases 49 $6,000
Listed as single-family, 3 bedrooms 10 $8,975
Listed as single-family, 4 bedrooms 13 $9,650
Listed as single-family, 5 bedrooms 7 $18,500
All 32 single-family leases 32 $10,025

The 83 total also includes two one-bedroom leases at 501 Palisades Drive, at $1,850 and $2,700, and one four-bedroom attached lease at $8,100 counted in the 49. Two single-family leases had six bedrooms.

On the market the morning of October 16

The same map showed 25 active residential listings, 4 under contract and 2 pending on October 16, 2026. The 8 active houses asked from $1,850,000 to $5,198,000, with a middle ask of $2,746,500. Leaving out the units at 501 and 517 Palisades Drive, the 13 active condominiums and townhomes asked from $1,099,000 to $1,895,000, with a middle ask of $1,300,000. On the land side, 16 lots were active, 2 were under contract and 1 was pending.

The two links below open the site's home search fenced to the Highlands outline. Listings change daily, so the results will not match the counts above.

Highlands homes and lots for sale Highlands homes for rent

Rules that shape a Highlands rebuild

The City Planning department's Palisades rebuild FAQ, dated January 30, 2026, explains that the Mayor's Emergency Executive Order No. 1 lets a fire-damaged home be rebuilt with up to a 10 percent increase in the previous building's height and footprint, and that projects that qualify skip Coastal Act, environmental and Mello Act review. The same document notes that Pacific Palisades has been mapped as a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone since 1999 and that the city does not enforce private covenants or association rules, so a lot inside an association may also need that association's architectural approval.

On July 30, 2025, the Mayor's office announced an emergency order under which the city will not accept or process SB 9 lot split and duplex applications in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone within the Palisades burn area. A buyer counting on splitting a lot here should confirm the current status with City Planning first.

The Board of Forestry adopted state ember-resistant rules for the first five feet around a home, often called Zone 0, on August 19, 2026, but the state Office of Administrative Law lists that filing as withdrawn on September 8, 2026, and no Zone 0 filing was on its list of emergency regulations under review when this page was checked on October 16, 2026, so the rules are not in effect. Ask your architect what will apply to your permit. For coverage questions, check with your insurance agent, and consult an attorney about your own situation before you rely on any of these rules.

Rebuild progress and public works on the calendar

Each item carries the status shown in the dated report I cite. Timelines slip, and plans that are announced can still be revised, delayed or dropped.

  • Under constructionRebuilding across Pacific Palisades. The Palisadian-Post's Pali Rebuild Map counted applications for 1,862 building permits, 1,317 building permits issued, construction under way on 1,126 primary structures and 50 new homes with certificates of occupancy as of October 8, 2026. Those counts are not broken out for the Highlands, and I found no official count for the Highlands alone. Palisadian-Post, October 9, 2026.
  • RefillingSanta Ynez Reservoir. The reservoir inside the Area 2 boundary has been offline while the Department of Water and Power replaced its liner and floating cover. The new liner and cover were installed in September 2026, the utility was refilling the reservoir as of October 2, 2026, and it aims to return the reservoir to service by the end of 2026. Westside Current, October 2, 2026; Palisades News, September 22, 2026.
  • PlannedBurying power lines. In March 2026, Palisades News reported a Department of Water and Power plan to place up to 45 miles of Palisades power lines underground, with major construction projected from 2027 to 2031. In October 2026, the Palisadian-Post reported that the utility plans to start in the Alphabet Streets in early 2027 and has not given a timeline for other Palisades neighborhoods. Palisades News, March 31, 2026; Palisadian-Post, October 12, 2026.
  • Under constructionPalisades Recreation Center. A project of more than $50 million broke ground in September 2026, with construction expected to take 14 to 16 months. Santa Monica Daily Press, September 21, 2026.
  • ReopenedPalisades Village. The shopping district on Swarthmore Avenue reopened on August 15, 2026, described as 99 percent leased. Fox 11 Los Angeles, August 15, 2026.
  • Open with restrictionsTopanga State Park. California State Parks lists the park as open with restrictions, with several trails and areas closed effective June 12, 2026, among them Rustic Canyon Trail and Temescal Canyon Trail. California State Parks alerts, checked October 16, 2026.
  • ReopenedTemescal Gateway Park. The park reopened on July 17, 2026, with the Sunset Trail open to the Temescal Ridge Trail and Topanga State Park. The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority park page, checked October 16, 2026, still lists the canyon trail to the waterfall as closed until further notice and notes that its parks close during Red Flag Warnings, including October 15 to 17, 2026. Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, checked October 16, 2026.

Public schools near the Highlands

No active public school has a street address inside the Area 2 boundary, according to the California Department of Education School Directory. These are the three active public schools the directory lists in ZIP code 90272, plus Paul Revere Charter Middle in 90049. Each name opens the school's report on the state's California School Dashboard.

  • Marquez Charter: kindergarten through grade 5, 16821 Marquez Avenue. Students returned to temporary classrooms on the campus on September 30, 2025 (Palisadian-Post, October 9, 2025).
  • Palisades Charter Elementary: kindergarten through grade 5, 800 Via de la Paz. A digital sign outside the school read "Returning August 2028" in January 2026 (Spectrum News, January 6, 2026).
  • Paul Revere Charter Middle: a campus serving grades 6 to 8 at 1450 Allenford Avenue, in ZIP code 90049.
  • Palisades Charter High: grades 9 through 12, 15777 Bowdoin Street. Students returned to the campus in January 2026 (Good Morning America, January 27, 2026).

Distance does not set enrollment. To see which schools serve a particular home, type its full street address into the LAUSD Resident School Identifier, then confirm with the district.

Trailheads and open space at the top of the road

The Highlands backs onto Topanga State Park, which California State Parks lists with 36 miles of trails, mountain bikes restricted to fire roads and no dogs on trails, fire roads or in the backcountry. Santa Ynez Canyon Park, a city park listed at Palisades Drive and Avenida de Santa Ynez, is posted as open daily from dawn to dusk. Check the State Parks alerts page before a hike, because trail closures can change.

Why this guide has no stories from my own files

I have not represented a buyer, seller or tenant inside the Highlands, so everything here comes from the MLS and public records rather than from my own transactions. What I can offer is the method: I will pull the closed sales, leases and inspection records for your street and your property type and walk you through them, the same way this page does for the whole neighborhood.

Own a lot or a house in the Highlands? Start with this year's records

A cleared lot, a 1970s house and a 1990s house each traded on very different terms this year, and the right comparison depends on your zoning, lot size and condition. Request a home value report and I will match your property against the closest sales from this year. Prefer a phone conversation? Reach my cell at 818-381-9977 by call or text.

Keep exploring: the Pacific Palisades homes for sale page, the Brentwood price guide, Westwood Village and the Wilshire Corridor, Century City, Ocean Park, Sunset Park, Mid-City Santa Monica and the full list on the neighborhood guides page.

Records consulted, with dates

The information on this page was compiled from public MLS records and other public sources and is current only as of October 2026. It is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed, and it is not a representation or warranty of any kind. Prices, rents, rent rules, association dues and rules, zoning, development plans, transit service, school assignments and neighborhood boundaries change over time and can change without notice. Do not rely on this page for any purchase, sale, lease or financing decision; verify everything that matters to you through your own inspections, the disclosure package, the association documents, the preliminary title report, the county tax records, the City of Los Angeles, your insurance agent and your lender. Nothing here is legal, tax, financial, insurance or lending advice. All real estate advertised is subject to the federal Fair Housing Act and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act; we do not discriminate and do not support discrimination against any protected class.

Antonio Vaziri, Realtor · Epique Realty · DRE #01927866 · buyandsellcaliforniahomes.com