There has never been a year with more money spent for Manhattan Beach homes in its first three months than 2025.

The total value of all home sales closed between Jan. 1-March 31 this year was $366.6 million, according to the local real estate blog Manhattan Beach Confidential.

MBC author Dave Fratello noted that the closest year was 2021, "a time when the market was responding to ultra-low interest rates" and there was an unusually high volume of sales happening, with covid-related disruptions and relocations. But that year, closed sales totaled $308 million, more than $58 million lower than this year.

In most recent years, the first quarter has averaged closer to $200 million in local home sales. A very, very slow recent year, 2023 was far below that, at $127.9 million.

Impact of LA County Fires

There is no doubt that this year's local real estate market got off to an unusually early start, with some very fast – and often pricey – sales, as a result of the tragic L.A. County fires, especially those impacting Pacific Palisades.

Manhattan Beach rentals and homes for sale were quickly taken by former Palisades residents throughout January. 

Local residents went out of their way to welcome displaced families with shows of support small and large. A "welcome" gathering at a private home in early February drew over 500 people, and sponsorships by local shops, restaurants and service providers. Schools have taken in dozens of Palisades students.

Still, movement from the Palisades does not fully explain the quarter's real estate activity, Fratello said.

"[T]he market generally has been recovering, and fast," prior to the fires, Fratello wrote. "Most buyers in MB in Q1 were not displaced families."

Looking back as far as 2017, three of the 25 busiest 3-month periods in local real estate sales have been in late 2024 and early 2025, according to Fratello's data.

"[T]he Manhattan Beach market firmed up and turned up, around Summer and Q4 of 2024, in part on the strength of high-end buyers," Fratello points out, suggesting that momentum continued into the new year.

What's Behind the $367 Million Quarter

Both the high number of transactions and higher-priced properties contributed to the higher overall dollar volume for home sales.

One MB Confidential chart shows that the 87 closed sales in this year's first quarter was second only to 2021's 88 sales, among data going back to 2008.

It was higher prices in the market, and higher-priced properties selling, that pushed the overall total to its new high mark.

Fratello noted that 28% of homes sold in the first quarter were priced over $5 million. And two-thirds (66%) were over $3 million.

Local Sales Examples

Fratello told MB News that, while his own business – Edge Real Estate Agency – has seen impacts from the fires and displaced families, his most active clients largely have not been people who were directly affected.

"We've closed listings and buyer purchases early this year where buyers were not displaced families, but rather people who simply felt that it was time to make a move," Fratello said. "Some buyers were definitely motivated to act because they felt that they had new competition."

Edge sold listings in Hermosa Beach (340 26th, $3.600M) and Manhattan Beach (508 Larsson, $4.249M) that went to buyers who were moving for their own reasons. Edge's buyers purchased 1819 Monterey ($3.920M) in Hermosa and 605 33rd ($4.355M) in the Tree Section (pictured above), but neither set of buyers were impact by the fires. 

"We think displaced families, especially from the Palisades, are going to be a significant factor in this market for a while. It's a new group of capable buyers who are really focused here," Fratello said. "But it's hard to separate them out from other enlivened buyers who have seen the market as more attractive, and the inventory as more attractive, than the past 2-3 years."