LA wildfires drive surge in rental housing prices, prompting price gouging concerns
More than 15,000 people are helping fight the fires across Southern California.
The devastating wildfires that have hit the Los Angeles area in recent weeks have further constrained an already tight housing market, spurring a rise in rental prices that has sparked concerns about price gouging.
Authorities have said more than 12,000 structures have been destroyed by the Los Angeles area wildfires, which have impacted Pacific Palisades and Altadena, as well as in the Malibu area. At least 27 people have been killed in the wildfires, which continue to pose a threat as firefighters work to contain the blazes that were driven by Santa Ana winds.
With the fires destroying a significant number of homes in those areas and many people in the region still subject to evacuation orders due to the dynamic nature of the wildfires, area residents searching for rental housing options are seeing prices climb dramatically compared to the market before the fires broke out.
«The wildfires have had a profound and far-reaching impact on the housing market in Los Angeles,» David Berg, founding partner of Smith & Berg Property Group, Compass, told FOX Business. «Entire neighborhoods have been devastated, displacing homeowners and putting immense pressure on the already limited housing inventory. Families who lost their homes are urgently seeking rentals, driving demand in nearby communities.»
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A view of fire-ravaged beach property overlooking the Pacific Ocean which burned as a result of the Palisades Fire in Malibu, California, on January 12, 2025. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Daryl Fairweather, chief economist of
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