Greater Palm Springs entered the prime selling season with more homes on the market, modestly lower prices, and a residential real estate buying tempo that feels measured rather than manic. According to the Greater Palm Springs Realtors GPSR Desert Housing Report – October 2025, the three-month average of home sales in October rose 11.1 percent year over year to 543 transactions, yet a seasonally adjusted “sales recovery” gauge shows activity running 28.4 percent below historic norms. During the frenzy of October 2021, that same gauge read 59.4 percent above normal.
The picture that emerges is not a market in retreat. It is a market that has recalibrated. Inventory is back, bidding wars have cooled, and buyers and sellers are finding a workable middle. The desert’s high-end remains a powerful driver of dollar volume, while entry and mid-price segments continue to move at a steady clip. As the season progresses, it will be important to monitor the months-of-sales ratio and the days-on-market. If they stay contained, the region’s modest price dips should remain just that, modest.
Prices are holding their ground. The median detached sales price finished October at $625,000, down 1.6 percent from a year earlier. The median attached price was $420,000, down 2.2 percent. The report notes that detached homes have largely retained the gains made during the pandemic period, while attached homes continue to follow a broader seasonal pattern with larger swings.
Under the hood, price performance diverges by city and property type. For average-size detached homes, year-over-year changes range from a 2.2 percent increase in Cathedral City to a 16.5 percent decline in Indian Wells. For attached homes, the spread runs from a 0.9 percent rise in Rancho Mirage to a 20.4 percent drop in La Quinta.
Sales volume tells a familiar story about where demand concentrates. Palm Springs led the valley with an average of 118 monthly sales over the last three months, followed by Palm Desert at 101 and La Quinta at 77.
Dollar volume climbed faster than unit volume. Three-month average dollar sales reached $432 million in October, up 18.7 percent from $364 million a year earlier. High-end transactions carry outsized weight here. Homes priced at $1 million or more accounted for 45 percent of all dollar sales. At the city level, Palm Springs generated about $ 94 million in average monthly sales, with La Quinta at $82.7 million and Palm Desert at $72.2 million.
Inventory has rebuilt to healthier levels. The valley ended October with 3,233 active listings, a 14.5 percent increase from last year and a level comparable to pre-pandemic supply patterns. Palm Springs has the largest inventory of homes for sale, with 710 listings, followed by Palm Desert with 674.
That added supply meets steady demand, tilting the market toward balance. The valley’s “months of sales” ratio stands at 5.2 months, up from 4.6 months a year ago, a reading the report frames as supply beginning to exceed demand. Cathedral City sits at the faster end of the spectrum at 4.5 months, while Indian Wells registers 7.4 months.
Time on market has lengthened, but remains reasonable for the desert region heading into the holidays. The median selling time across the valley is 59 days, up by 13 days year over year. The fastest markets are Cathedral City at 47 days and Coachella at 48, while Bermuda Dunes has the longest median at 88 days.
Negotiations have normalized. Detached homes are closing at an average 2.4 percent below list price, while attached homes are closing at 3.6 percent below list price. Desert Hot Springs is the outlier at the tight end with an average 1.8 percent selling premium, while Rancho Mirage shows the biggest average discount at 5.1 percent. Only 12.3 percent of homes sold above list price over the last three months, down from 14.5 percent a year earlier, a share the report describes as back to pre-pandemic levels.
The price ladder reveals where leverage lives. Discounts typically widen as prices rise, and the current pattern shows the steepest average markdown at the top of the market. Homes priced at $2 million and above are selling on average 5.0 percent below list price. Mid-range price brackets are seeing comparatively smaller discounts than a year ago.
Looking ahead, the report’s longer-run sales average, which strips out seasonality, sits at 617 transactions a month, up slightly from 609 a year ago. The authors note that lower mortgage rates would help demand, adding that the Federal Reserve has paused additional short-term rate cuts as policymakers assess the impact of new federal economic policies.
Methodology matters in a market with seasonal swings. The valley medians use rolling 90-day data across the ten Coachella Valley cities. Late-reported closings, typically 3 to 5 percent of monthly sales, are picked up in the next release, so headline figures may see small revisions.
The picture that emerges is not a market in retreat. It is a market that has recalibrated. Inventory is back, bidding wars have cooled, and buyers and sellers are finding a workable middle. The desert’s high-end remains a powerful driver of dollar volume, while entry and mid-price segments continue to move at a steady clip. As the season progresses, watch the months-of-sales ratio and the days-on-market. If they stay contained, the region’s modest price dips should remain just that, modest.
The source for all data in this article is derived from The GPSR Desert Housing Report – October 2025 (PDF).
