The Long Beach housing market in August 2026 sits at a median home price of approximately $820,000, with active inventory up roughly 18% compared to August 2025, and average days on market stretching past 30 days in several inland zip codes. That combination, more homes, slower sales, is giving buyers breathing room they haven’t had since 2019. Sellers who priced on 2025 assumptions are learning that lesson the hard way right now.
The Los Angeles Times called Long Beach one of the least affordable cities in the world for homebuyers as recently as February 2026. Prices haven’t collapsed since then. But the pressure is redistributing. Some neighborhoods are softening. Others aren’t budging. Knowing which is which is the only data point that actually matters.
(https://muskahomes.com/blog/long-beach-housing-market-july-2026-shows-a-split-that-most-listings-data-misses/)
Key Takeaways
- The Long Beach CA median home price sits near $820,000 in August 2026, up modestly year-over-year but softening in inland zip codes.
- Active inventory is up roughly 18% versus August 2025, giving buyers more negotiating leverage than any point in the last 5 years.
- Coastal neighborhoods (Belmont Shore, Naples Island) are holding price better than Bixby Knolls and North Long Beach.
- Days on market has stretched past 30 in several zip codes, signaling that overpriced listings are sitting.
- Two major rental and mixed-use projects broke ground in 2026, which will shift the local supply picture starting in 2028.
What’s happening to the Long Beach CA median home price right now?
The Long Beach CA median home price in August 2026 is tracking near $820,000 across all residential property types, according to compiled MLS data for the greater Long Beach area. That’s up from roughly $790,000 a year ago, but the headline number masks a split: detached single-family homes are pulling the median up, while attached condos and townhomes in 90805 and 90806 zip codes are flat or slightly negative year-over-year.
The split matters if you’re buying or selling something other than a classic single-family house. Condos in North Long Beach have seen price reductions on a higher share of listings this summer than at any point since 2020. Part of that is HOA cost sensitivity: monthly fees running $400 to $600 in many complexes are now a genuine deal-breaker for buyers whose purchasing power got trimmed by rates.
The LA Times affordability data from February 2026 focused on the macro picture. What it didn’t break out: Long Beach’s condo segment is already correcting even as its SFR segment holds. That divergence won’t show up in a single median figure, and most aggregated market reports are still blending the two.
Which neighborhoods are holding value and which are softening?
Belmont Shore and Naples Island are the clearest hold-your-ground stories in the Long Beach CA housing market right now. Homes on the Naples Island canals are still drawing competitive offers within the first two weeks, partly because there’s a structural supply ceiling: you can’t build more canal-front. Pre-approved buyers who toured Naples last spring and lost to competing offers are now coming back and winning, but not at discounts.
Bixby Knolls is a different story. It was one of the hottest inland neighborhoods in 2022 and 2023, driven by buyers priced out of the coast. With inventory up citywide, those buyers have more options, and Bixby Knolls listings are sitting 10 to 15 days longer than they did a year ago. That’s not a collapse. It’s recalibration. But a seller who bought in 2021 and needs to list at a 2021 comparable price is going to have a harder summer.
In 24 years working Long Beach, I’ve seen this exact pattern in 2006 and again in 2018 — coastal inventory tightens first, inland softens first. August 2026 is rhyming with both of those stretches, though the underlying employment base is stronger today than either of those periods.
How does new construction affect the August 2026 supply picture?
Long Beach broke ground on two significant projects in spring 2026 that will eventually add real supply pressure, just not yet. The 600-unit Onni Marina Shores project near the waterfront and 281 apartments at 6700 PCH (Longbeachize, April 2026) are both under construction but won’t deliver until 2028 at the earliest. Today’s buyer competing on a 3-bedroom in Wrigley or Zaferia won’t feel those units. Buyers in 2028 will.
What does affect today’s market is the steady completion of smaller affordable housing projects. The 300 Alamitos Ave. senior living project neared completion in June 2026 (Longbeachize, June 2026), adding units that absorb some of the rental demand that had been pushing low-income residents toward homeownership they couldn’t actually afford. It’s a modest release valve, not a solution.
For buyers of market-rate homes, the practical takeaway is this: the inventory bump you’re seeing in August 2026 is not a construction wave. It’s mostly resale listings that sat through the spring and relisted. Some of those sellers are now flexible. Go look at them.
What income do you actually need to buy in Long Beach right now?
At a $820,000 median price with 10% down and a 30-year fixed rate near 6.6% (per Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, August 2026), the monthly PITI on a median Long Beach home is roughly $5,800 to $6,100 depending on property taxes and insurance. Standard lender guidelines (28% front-end DTI) put the qualifying gross income somewhere around $210,000 to $220,000 annually.
The median household income in Long Beach is roughly $70,000 (U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, 2024 estimates). That gap is the affordability crisis in a single comparison. It explains why the LA Times ranked Long Beach among the least affordable cities globally in February 2026, and why a substantial portion of transactions are happening with gift funds, dual incomes, or relocating buyers bringing equity from a previous sale.
Of the 15 transactions I’ve closed in the last 12 months, just over half involved buyers carrying equity from an out-of-area sale or a family equity transfer. That’s a higher rate than any comparable 12-month stretch in my 24 years here. It tells you something real about who can currently close in this market.
Are Long Beach CA real estate trends pointing toward a buyer’s or seller’s market?
By the classic definition, a balanced market has 4 to 6 months of supply. Long Beach in August 2026 is sitting around 3.2 months citywide, per compiled MLS data. That still technically favors sellers, but it’s the loosest reading in nearly three years. In specific zip codes (90805 in particular), supply is nudging past 4 months, which is functionally balanced.
What that means for a buyer: you can ask for inspections again without losing the deal. Contingencies are back. In 2021 and 2022, waiving inspection was practically table stakes in Long Beach. Buyers who toured Bixby Knolls and North Long Beach this summer are routinely getting 10 to 15-day inspection periods written into accepted offers.
For sellers, the data says price correctly the first time. Listings that come in 5% above comparable sales are sitting past 45 days and then taking price cuts that hurt more than a right-sized original list price would have. That’s not a prediction; it’s what’s showing in the August numbers.
A real estate agent in Long Beach who knows the current absorption rate by neighborhood can tell you in about five minutes whether your target block is still a seller’s market or already tipping.
What should Long Beach buyers and sellers actually do in August 2026?
For buyers: the window between “inventory rising” and “prices following inventory up” has historically been short in coastal Southern California. You have more leverage in August 2026 than you’ve had in years. Use it on inspection contingencies and closing timelines. Go look at listings that relisted after a spring price cut — those sellers have already absorbed a psychological recalibration, and many will negotiate.
For sellers: the biggest mistake I’m watching right now is pricing to last year’s peak comps. Your neighbor’s 2025 sale is not your ceiling if they closed in February and inventory has since risen 18%. Price to August 2026 data. A clean offer at 97% of your list price in week 2 is worth more than a dragged-out negotiation at 93% in week 7.
“The sellers who do well right now are the ones willing to look at what’s actually pending and closing this month, not what closed last fall,” says Derrick Muska, Broker-Associate with Coldwell Banker Realty in Long Beach.
If you’re comparing Long Beach against neighboring coastal markets before deciding, the San Pedro vs. Huntington Beach breakdown covers the lifestyle and price-per-square-foot tradeoffs in detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median home price in Long Beach CA in August 2026?
The Long Beach CA median home price in August 2026 is approximately $820,000 across all residential types, per compiled MLS data. Single-family detached homes are pulling that figure higher; condos in inland zip codes like 90805 and 90806 are flat to slightly negative year-over-year. The gap between property types is wider than the headline median suggests.
Is the Long Beach housing market slowing down in 2026?
It’s slowing selectively. Citywide active inventory is up roughly 18% versus August 2025, and days on market have extended past 30 in several inland zip codes. Coastal areas like Belmont Shore and Naples Island remain competitive. The market isn’t crashing; it’s differentiating, which means neighborhood-level data matters more than a citywide trend line right now.
How many months of supply does Long Beach have in August 2026?
Long Beach sits at approximately 3.2 months of supply citywide as of August 2026, per MLS data. That’s technically a seller’s market (under 4 months), but the loosest reading since 2023. Zip code 90805 has nudged past 4 months, which is functionally balanced and gives buyers in that area real negotiating room on price and contingencies.
Will new construction in Long Beach affect home prices?
Two major projects (the 600-unit Onni Marina Shores and 281 units at 6700 PCH) broke ground in 2026 but won’t deliver until 2028 at the earliest (Longbeachize, April 2026). Today’s buyers won’t feel that supply. The projects that will matter in the near term are smaller affordable housing completions that absorb rental demand and reduce pressure on the lower end of the resale market.
What neighborhoods in Long Beach are holding value best in 2026?
Belmont Shore and Naples Island are holding price most reliably, driven by structural supply limits and continued coastal demand. Bixby Knolls and parts of North Long Beach are seeing longer days on market and more price reductions than a year ago. For a detailed look at what’s available in Long Beach and surrounding areas, current inventory tells the story faster than any trend report.
What to do with all of this
The Long Beach housing market in August 2026 is genuinely more complex than a single median price can describe. Coastal neighborhoods and inland zip codes are moving at different speeds. The condo segment is softening while detached SFRs hold. And the affordability math, a $210,000 income needed to qualify at the median, means the pool of qualified buyers is narrower than listing activity implies.
The useful question isn’t “is the market good or bad.” It’s whether the specific block you’re targeting is tightening or loosening. That answer changes street by street in Long Beach right now.
If you want to run the numbers on a specific neighborhood, reach out to Derrick Muska at Coldwell Banker Realty. After closing 100+ transactions across Long Beach and the surrounding 562 area code, the neighborhood-level read comes faster than any dashboard.
