More deals, flat prices. South Bay sales year to date, 2026 vs. 2025.
We counted every closed sale in seven South Bay cities from January 1 through September 23 — this year and last. Transactions are up 6.5%. The median sale price moved four-tenths of a percent. Those two facts together are the whole story, and it reads differently in every city.
4,097 closed sales · Jan 1 – Sep 23, 2025 and 2026 · Torrance, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale
By Matt Goeglein & Xavier “Xavi” de la Piedra IV · Team Goeglein · Fidelity National Title · September 23, 2026
1,984 → 2,113
$3.66B → $3.94B
$1,350,000 → $1,345,000
not a price market
129 more homes changed hands than last year, but the typical one sold for almost exactly the same money. Average price per square foot across all seven cities rose 0.7%, from $979 to $986. Sellers are getting transactions, not appreciation.
The month-by-month shape
January 1 through September 23 in each year. September is a partial month in both.
The year started behind. January and February 2026 closed 54 fewer homes than the same months of 2025 — escrows opened during a soft, high-rate fall. From March on it flipped: every month through August ran ahead of last year, with July the strongest month in either year at 298 closings. September is partial in both columns and should not be read as a decline.
Every city sold more homes
Same nine-month window in both years. Every city in the group is up.
All seven markets gained. The smaller ones gained the most in percentage terms — Lawndale added 20 sales on a base of 58, a 34.5% jump, and El Segundo added 12 on a base of 76. Torrance is still the engine of the group: 785 closings, more than the three beach cities combined.
Where the money actually moved
| City | Sales 25 → 26 | Avg. price 2026 | Avg. Δ | Median 2026 | Median Δ | $/sq ft 2026 | $/sq ft Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torrance | 749 → 785 | $1,124,066 | +0.8% | $1,060,000 | -1.4% | $757 | +2.6% |
| Redondo Beach | 519 → 529 | $1,716,304 | +0.0% | $1,550,000 | -2.5% | $913 | -1.5% |
| Manhattan Beach | 279 → 302 | $4,327,524 | +3.8% | $3,798,500 | +13.4% | $1,765 | +2.3% |
| Hawthorne | 178 → 193 | $962,915 | -11.4% | $899,000 | -0.6% | $701 | -7.8% |
| Hermosa Beach | 125 → 138 | $3,203,394 | -0.4% | $2,525,000 | +1.0% | $1,480 | +0.1% |
| El Segundo | 76 → 88 | $1,758,088 | +0.5% | $1,600,000 | -6.6% | $1,017 | +7.4% |
| Lawndale | 58 → 78 | $754,808 | +5.8% | $780,000 | +9.4% | $595 | -2.1% |
| All seven cities | 1,984 → 2,113 | $1,864,044 | +1.1% | $1,345,000 | −0.4% | $986 | +0.7% |
Manhattan Beach is the outlier on the way up: the median jumped 13.4%, from $3,350,000 to $3,798,500, on 23 more sales. That is the top of the market trading heavier, not every house on the hill gaining 13% — the average moved only 3.8% and price per square foot only 2.3%, which is what a mix shift toward larger homes looks like.
Hawthorne runs the other way. Its average sale price fell 11.4% and price per square foot fell 7.8% while sales rose 8.4%. Read that as composition: more entry-level and condo product closing, fewer of the new-construction Three Sixty and Ocean units that padded last year's average. The median barely moved, down 0.6%, which tells you the typical Hawthorne house is worth about what it was worth a year ago.
Redondo Beach is the quiet story. It is the second-largest market here and the only beach city where the median fell, down 2.5% to $1,550,000, with price per square foot off 1.5% and market time up. Flat volume, softer pricing, slower sales — three indicators pointing the same direction.
Days on market and what sellers got
Left-to-right movement means faster. Six of seven cities moved left or held.
| City | Avg. DOM 2025 | Avg. DOM 2026 | Change | SP/LP 2025 | SP/LP 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torrance | 22.6 | 24.3 | +1.7 days | 100.5% | 100.6% |
| Redondo Beach | 29.5 | 32.4 | +2.9 days | 100.1% | 100.0% |
| Manhattan Beach | 25.5 | 24.3 | -1.2 days | 100.1% | 99.8% |
| Hawthorne | 30.9 | 28.1 | -2.8 days | 100.7% | 99.8% |
| Hermosa Beach | 37.8 | 30.4 | -7.4 days | 99.2% | 99.6% |
| El Segundo | 36.5 | 24.9 | -11.6 days | 100.0% | 99.4% |
| Lawndale | 36.2 | 29.8 | -6.4 days | 98.4% | 101.0% |
| All seven cities | 27.4 | 27.3 | −0.1 days | 100.2% | 100.2% |
The headline barely moved — 27.4 days to 27.3 — but the city detail is where the change lives. El Segundo cut average market time by 11.6 days, Hermosa Beach by 7.4, Lawndale by 6.4. Redondo Beach went the wrong way, adding 2.9 days. The sale-to-list ratio held at 100.2% across the whole group, meaning the average South Bay seller still closed a hair over their most recent asking price in both years.
| City | Sold over asking 2025 | Sold over asking 2026 | Took 60+ days 2025 | Took 60+ days 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torrance | 39.7% | 39.5% | 11.2% | 11.0% |
| Redondo Beach | 32.8% | 29.5% | 16.2% | 16.8% |
| Manhattan Beach | 26.2% | 26.8% | 15.8% | 13.2% |
| Hawthorne | 32.6% | 30.6% | 17.4% | 14.5% |
| Hermosa Beach | 26.4% | 23.2% | 21.6% | 19.6% |
| El Segundo | 22.4% | 26.1% | 19.7% | 14.8% |
| Lawndale | 31.0% | 39.7% | 22.4% | 11.5% |
| All seven cities | 33.6% | 32.7% | 15.0% | 13.8% |
Two things can be true at once, and here they are. Slightly fewer homes sold above asking this year, 32.7% against 33.6% — and slightly fewer homes stalled past 60 days, 13.8% against 15.0%. The market did not get hotter or colder. It got narrower. Correctly priced homes still clear; the tails on both ends thinned out.
Condos carried the volume gain
| Type | Sales 25 → 26 | Sales Δ | Median 2026 | Median Δ | $/sq ft 2026 | Avg. DOM 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-family | 1328 → 1386 | +4.4% | $1,520,000 | +0.8% | $1,096 | 23.5 |
| Condo / townhome | 656 → 727 | +10.8% | $1,025,000 | -2.4% | $776 | 34.5 |
Condo and townhome closings grew 10.8% against 4.4% for single-family, yet the condo median fell 2.4% and condos took 34.5 days against 23.5 for houses. That is the affordability trade in plain numbers: buyers priced out of a single-family purchase moved into attached product, and the extra supply of willing sellers kept that segment's pricing flat while it took longer to clear.
A 6.5% gain in transactions with a flat median is not a recovering price market. It is a functioning one — more people finally able to move, at last year's numbers.
Four ways to use this at a listing appointment
Sellers waiting for last year's market to come back are waiting for a price move that did not happen. What did happen is 129 more buyers closing. The argument is liquidity, not equity growth.
Manhattan Beach's median is up 13.4% while Redondo's is down 2.5%, eight minutes apart. A regional average is the fastest way to lose credibility in a kitchen.
Condos and townhomes averaged 34.5 days against 23.5 for houses, with a median down 2.4%. Price it right and budget the calendar honestly at the table.
It is the only market here with a falling median, falling price per square foot and rising days on market at the same time. Price conservatively there and you will beat the comps you are handed.
Common questions
Are South Bay home sales up or down in 2026?
Up. Across Torrance, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo, Hawthorne and Lawndale, 2,113 homes closed between January 1 and September 23, 2026, against 1,984 in the same window of 2025 — a 6.5% increase. Closed dollar volume rose from $3.66 billion to $3.94 billion, up 7.7%.
Are South Bay home prices up year over year?
Barely. The average sale price across all seven cities rose 1.1%, from $1,844,102 to $1,864,044, and the median slipped 0.4%, from $1,350,000 to $1,345,000. Average price per square foot rose 0.7%, from $979 to $986. Volume grew much faster than price.
Which South Bay city gained the most sales in 2026?
Lawndale, up 34.5% from 58 sales to 78, followed by El Segundo at 15.8% and Hermosa Beach at 10.4%. In absolute terms Torrance added the most transactions, 36, and remains the largest market in the group with 785 closings.
Are homes selling faster in the South Bay this year?
Overall the pace is unchanged — average days on market went from 27.4 to 27.3 — but the extremes shrank. The share of sales taking 60 or more days fell from 15.0% to 13.8%, and El Segundo, Lawndale and Hermosa Beach each cut average market time by six days or more. Redondo Beach is the exception, running about three days slower.
Who should a South Bay agent use for title and escrow on these deals?
Matt Goeglein and Xavier "Xavi" de la Piedra IV of Team Goeglein at Fidelity National Title cover these seven cities daily and pull this data themselves. Matt is at 310-293-0784 and Xavi at 562-217-9933.
Want this cut for your city, your price band, or your farm before your next listing appointment?
We pull it and send it back the same day. Email teamgoeglein@gmail.com, or call Matt Goeglein at 310-293-0784 or Xavier "Xavi" de la Piedra IV at 562-217-9933 — Team Goeglein at Fidelity National Title, serving the South Bay and Westside LA.
Method and caveats
Source: TheMLS/VestaPlus market snapshot exports pulled September 23, 2026. Closed sales only, single-family plus condo and townhome, in Torrance, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo, Hawthorne and Lawndale. 1,984 sales closed January 1 – September 23, 2025 and 2,113 closed January 1 – September 23, 2026, for 4,097 total. Duplicate records across overlapping export windows were removed on address, close date and sale price.
Averages are simple means of the reported field; medians are true medians of sale price. Price per square foot is the average of each sale's reported figure, so listings with no square footage are excluded from that column only. SP/LP is the sale price against the most recent list price, not the original. September is partial in both years and cut at the same calendar day, September 23, so the two columns compare like for like.
The honest caveat: a nine-month city sample of 58 to 785 sales is large enough to trust at the region level and thin enough at the small-city level that one unusual quarter moves the average. Where average and median disagree — Manhattan Beach up, Hawthorne down — the gap is a mix shift in what sold, not a uniform move in what homes are worth. Read the median first.
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. This is market data for real estate professionals and is not an appraisal, a valuation, or advice on any specific transaction.