Best Time of Year to Buy a House in Los Angeles

It's a fair question in a city where the weather barely changes. The housing market does change through the year: the number of homes for sale, how long they sit and how often sellers cut the price all follow a pattern through the year.

This page shows that pattern with real numbers. It isn't a prediction, and the calendar is only one piece. Mortgage rates, your own timing and the house itself usually matter more.

Where the numbers come from

The figures below come from Realtor.com's monthly housing data for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro, which covers LA and Orange counties. I compared each month to that year's average for every full year from 2017 through 2025, then averaged the results. Leaving out 2020 and 2021 gives nearly the same pattern.

Two caveats. These are listing figures (asking prices, homes for sale, time on market), not closed sales. And a metro average blends very different places, so a single neighborhood can run its own way.

The year, month by month

• January: the fewest homes for sale all year, about 16% below the yearly average. Median days on market is at its longest, partly because listings that sat through the holidays are still counted. The median asking price is at its lowest, about 6% below average.
• February and March: new listings start to climb. The ratio of pending sales to active listings, a rough measure of how fast homes go into contract, peaks in March at about 19% above average.
• April through July: the busiest stretch for new listings, peaking in June at about 17% above average. Median days on market is shortest from March through June.
• May through July: the median asking price runs highest, about 3% above average.
• August through October: the most homes for sale at once, about 14% above average in August. The share of listings with a price cut is at its highest, about 26% above average in October, and the pending ratio is near its low.
• November and December: new listings drop off sharply. December averages about 41% fewer new listings than a typical month. Days on market climbs back up, and price cuts become less common.

What that looked like in 2025

Here's one recent year from the same Realtor.com data, for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro:

• New listings: 9,442 in June, 4,286 in December.
• Homes for sale: 12,177 in January, 20,198 in August.
• Median asking price: $1,089,500 in January, $1,195,625 in April.
• Median days on market: 39 in February, 67 in December.

In September 2026, the latest month available, the metro had 20,130 homes for sale, up from 13,760 in January 2026. For prices by area, see the home prices table.

The national picture

Realtor.com also publishes an annual best time to buy report. For 2026 it named the week of September 27 to October 3 nationally, citing 13.3% more active listings than an average week and a median listing price 3.5% below its seasonal high, as RISMedia reported on September 14, 2026. The report says the best week varies by metro, from late September to early December. I couldn't confirm the Los Angeles week, so I've left it out.

The trade-offs by season

• Winter: fewer homes to choose from and lower median asking prices, with listings sitting longer.
• Spring: the most new listings and the fastest pace into contract.
• Late summer and fall: the biggest selection at once, and the most price cuts.

None of this tells you what a specific house will do. A well-priced home in a popular area can draw multiple offers in December, and one that's priced high can sit in April. Mortgage rates don't follow the seasons at all.

Planning around the calendar

If your timing is flexible, the pattern can help you plan when to start looking and when to be ready to write an offer. If you're moving here, our 90-day LA move checklist lays out the steps, and buying from anywhere covers touring and offers by video.

Tell me which areas you're watching and when you'd like to move, and I'll pull the recent numbers for those places.