The Palm Springs real estate market looks different depending on which website you open and which month it covers. An asking price, a finished sale and a three-month average can each tell a different story. Here is what the most recent published numbers say as of November 10, 2026, with the period each one covers.
The latest city numbers
For October 2026, Realtor.com's Palm Springs market page, which credits Realtor.com Economic Research, reports:
- Median sold price: $559,000, down 5.09% from a year earlier.
- Median listing price: $695,000, down 0.57%.
- Active listings: 932, down 4.44%.
- Median days on market: 73, up 1.39%.
These are for the city of Palm Springs, not the whole Coachella Valley.
The gap between the sold and listing medians isn't a measure of how much sellers came down. The homes for sale and the homes that sold are different groups of houses, so subtracting one from the other doesn't tell you what a typical negotiation looked like.
Why Redfin shows something different
Redfin's Palm Springs page reports a median sale price of $574,726, down 10.1% from a year earlier, over the three months ending September 2026. It puts median days on market at 103, compared with 105 a year before.
That isn't a contradiction. Redfin is averaging three months that end in September; Realtor.com is looking at October alone. The two use different windows and methods, so their numbers shouldn't be blended into one estimate.
Both point the same direction, though: prices a little lower than a year ago, and homes taking a while to sell.
The wider Coachella Valley
The Greater Palm Springs Realtors' Desert Housing Report for October 2026 covers the whole valley, not just the city. Across the valley:
- The median detached home ended October at $610,000, down 2.9% from last year. Attached homes (condos and townhomes) ended at $410,000, down 2.4%.
- Valley inventory was 3,213 homes, almost unchanged from a year earlier, or about 5.3 months of sales.
- Sales averaged 471 a month over three months, compared with 547 a year ago. Palm Springs had 88 sales, second only to Palm Desert.
The report's own rule of thumb is that a valley-wide ratio under six months of sales means a balanced market.
Historic houses are their own story
A citywide median can't price an architect-designed house, an intact original kitchen or an official historic designation. The sources above don't measure any of that.
What changes with a designated house is the paperwork. The city's guidance for designated properties sets out separate review routes for major alterations, minor alterations and demolition. Calling a house "historic" in a listing doesn't make it legally designated; the city's designation record does. Our guide to Palm Springs historic designation walks through what that means for owners.
Vacation rental rules
Whether a house can be rented short term is another property-by-property question. The city treats vacation rentals and homeshares as a secondary use of a home, with registration, permits and operating rules. Its vacation rental page records an ordinance amendment adopted July 8, 2026.
Under the city's neighborhood density rules, new applications are returned when vacation rentals already make up 20% or more of a neighborhood, and applicants can join a waiting list. The city traces that cap to an ordinance adopted November 28, 2022. Annual booking limits also differ for new and existing permit holders, so check the current rules for the specific house.
None of the market sources measure how these rules affect prices.
What you can check yourself
Before you buy or sell, look at:
- The month and property type behind any comparable sale.
- The homes actively for sale right now near the house.
- The city's designation record, if the house is described as historic.
- The neighborhood's vacation rental percentage on the city's table.
- Any existing rental certificate and its conditions.
Those records describe one house far better than a citywide headline.
Sources
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