How sale-to-list ratios work, and what LA's say right now
What a sale-to-list ratio is, how to read one, and what LA's look like by zip in 2026, from 108% in Eagle Rock to 94% in Beverly Hills. See your area.
Sale-to-list ratio is one of the most useful numbers in LA real estate, and one of the easiest to misread. It answers a simple question: in this area, do homes tend to sell above, at or below what the seller asked? Here's how it works, and what the numbers look like across LA this year.
The math
Take the final sale price and divide it by the last list price. A house listed at $1,500,000 that closes at $1,605,000 sold at 107% of list. One listed at $4,000,000 that closes at $3,800,000 sold at 95%.
One sale tells you about that house. Averaged across dozens of sales in a zip code, the ratio tells you about the pricing habits of an area.
What LA looks like right now
At the metro level, homes are moving at a steady clip. According to the Zillow Research data, LA metro homes took a median of 26 days to go pending in September 2026, 7.1% faster than a year earlier, and about 40% of homes sold above list in August 2026.
The metro number hides a wide spread. Redfin's zip-level data for single-family homes, March to May 2026, shows how different the picture is from one part of town to the next:
- 90041 (Eagle Rock): about 108.5% of list, median sale price about $1.45 million.
- 90026 (Silver Lake and Echo Park): about 107.1% of list, median about $1.53 million.
- 90042 (Highland Park): about 103.2% of list, median about $1.23 million.
- 90027 (Los Feliz): about 103.0% of list, median about $2.38 million.
- 90266 (Manhattan Beach): about 101.4% of list, median about $3.86 million.
- 91423 (Sherman Oaks): about 98.3% of list, median about $1.96 million.
- 90049 (Brentwood): about 95.6% of list, median about $3.90 million.
- 90210 (Beverly Hills): about 94.3% of list, median about $8.12 million.
Zip codes don't line up with neighborhood borders, and a zip with 30 sales can swing a few points from one quarter to the next, so read these as a rough picture of each area, not a price guide.
Why the ratio runs high in some areas and low in others
A high ratio usually reflects how homes are priced, not just how many people want them. In parts of the Eastside, it's common for a house to be listed a little under where the agent expects it to land, with an offer date a week or so out. Several offers come in, and the ratio climbs past 100%.
At higher prices, the habit often flips. Many Westside and Beverly Hills homes list at a number that leaves room to negotiate, sit longer and close below asking. A 94% ratio in 90210 doesn't mean those homes are struggling. It means the asking price there is usually the start of a conversation.
How to use it when you write an offer
- Start with the comps, not the list price. The asking price is the seller's opening number. Recent sales of similar homes nearby are what an appraiser and a lender will look at.
- Look at the house's own history. A price cut, a relist or a long stretch on the market changes the picture for that one property, whatever the area average says.
- Check days on market alongside the ratio. Redfin's same data shows a median of 21.5 days on market for 90254 (Hermosa Beach) and 67 days for 90049 that spring. The two numbers together say more than either one alone.
- Line up financing first. In areas where homes go pending fast, a pre-approval and proof of funds ready on day one let you move when the right house shows up.
If you're new to LA, our guide to the best time to buy covers how the market shifts through the year, and the neighborhood guides have median prices for each area.
A quick example
As an example only: say two houses each list at $2,000,000, one in an Eastside zip running at 107% and one in a Westside zip running at 96%. At those averages, the first would close near $2,140,000 and the second near $1,920,000. Same asking price, a $220,000 gap. That's why the list price on its own tells you so little in LA.
If you have an area or a house in mind, tell me and I'll pull the recent sales and the sale-to-list history so you can see how it trades.
General information, not advice. Price figures are estimates from public data and may be out of date.
