In Palm Springs, the desert heat isn’t the only thing on the rise. House prices are climbing fast, too, and if you’re hoping to buy in 2025, you’d better come prepared – with cash.
According to Andy Linsky, a veteran local agent and founding member of the ASK Palm Springs team, the city’s housing market has surged dramatically since the pandemic.
‘It’s only gone one direction, and that’s up,’ Linsky said. ‘It really skyrocketed during the pandemic and post-pandemic purchasing mania. Some properties had 30 offers on them.’
For years, Palm Springs homes could spend months on the market. But during the height of COVID-era demand, properties were being snapped up in three days, Linsky said. The real estate landscape underwent what he called a full ‘reset’.
He estimated that values in the city have doubled – ‘maybe even two-and-a-half times’ – since 2019.
Those with outdated homes could see their payday boosted even further amid the trend for vintage property.
‘What people couldn’t wait to tear out, now – oh, my god – it’s money in the bank,’ Linsky explained.
While the start of 2025 saw a strong market, things had since turned ‘sort of skitzy’ as Linsky put it, ‘hard to predict’.
Palm Springs has seen a dramatic surge in real estate prices over the past five years, with some properties doubling or even tripling in value, according to longtime agent Andy Linsky, of ASK Palm Springs (Pictured: 3006 N Avenida Caballeros, which is a three bed, three bath on the market for $1.525 million)
During the pandemic, demand spiked so dramatically that homes once on the market for months were snapped up in days – sometimes attracting 30 offers
Today, many high-end homes – ranging from $2 million to $4 million – are being bought entirely in cash, often by affluent buyers from the East Coast or Midwest
‘It’s not a matter of competition,’ he said, ‘it’s just a matter of supply and demand.’
Still, the allure of Palm Springs shows no sign of waning. Famed for its mid-century architecture, LGBTQ+ community and proximity to Coachella and Stagecoach music and arts festivals, the city – where temperatures can reach up to 109F in July – continues to draw affluent buyers from across the country.
‘The more expensive properties, which are the ones we try to deal in mostly – and do deal in – our buyers are all cash,’ Linsky said. ‘It’s really fascinating.’
‘We’re talking homes in the mid-$2 to the mid-$4 million range,’ he added. ‘America is still very wealthy, and there’s a lot of money out there.’
Many of Linsky’s clients are based on the East Coast and in the Midwest, and, while some have been eyeing the desert for years, 2025 is the year they are buying.
The current buyer profile is clear: well-off retirees, second-home seekers and investors looking for a lifestyle upgrade. They are not locals working in town.
‘Our real estate is too expensive for quote-unquote workers,’ Linsky said. ‘We don’t have an industry here that pays enough for most people to afford our real estate prices.
‘If you’re a physician or an attorney, it may be a different story, but that’s not a main driver of our economy,’ he said. ‘The folks that are buying here are the people who can and want to.
The Team at ASK Palm Springs (left to right): Sven Vennen, Read Brown, Kevin Bass and Andy Linsky
4230 Amber Lane in Palm Springs is on the market for $949,000 and includes two beds and three baths
Linsky says buyers aren’t moving for jobs, they’re purchasing second or third homes simply because they can and want to enjoy the Palm Springs lifestyle
‘Palm Springs is a unique place. People want to live here – they don’t have to live here.’
For some sellers, a major motivator to list is the city’s stricter stance on short-term rentals. Linsky, however, pushed back on the notion of a ‘crackdown’, instead calling the changes a long-overdue correction.
‘I think using the term “crackdown” is somewhat inaccurate,’ he said. ‘It was made necessary by the fact that it was being abused by the homeowners and the renters, and it was turning residential neighborhoods that are not inexpensive into party zones.’
After a failed initiative to ban vacation rentals entirely, the city chose to impose tougher rules: no more than 20 per cent of homes in any neighborhood can hold short-term licenses, and bookings are capped at 26 stays per year.
‘There’s serious teeth that the city has put into the sanctions if you abuse the rules,’ Linsky said. ‘It’s working quite nicely.’
A noticeable chunk of new listings this year were former Airbnbs, he said, particularly those timed to hit the market after festival season.
‘They [saw] the income stream slowing down on their books, and so they prepared to sell.’
Importantly, those rental licenses aren’t transferable. ‘Someone buying a home would have to apply again for their own permit,’ Linsky explained.
There has also been a shift in attitudes toward tribal leasehold land – particularly in neighborhoods such as Indian Canyons, where properties sit on land owned by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. These homes were once seen as less desirable by some buyers because they wouldn’t be purchasing the land outright.
The market has cooled slightly in 2025, but Linsky describes it as ‘skitzy’ rather than declining, with demand still strong in popular neighborhoods such as Old Las Palmas
Palm Springs has also cracked down on short-term vacation rentals, capping them at 20 per cent of homes per neighborhood and 26 bookings per year, leading some Airbnb owners to sell
A popular outdoor sculpture entitled ‘Forever Marilyn’ by artist Seward Johnson, located directly across from the Palm Springs Art Museum
‘There was a time in my 32-year history where you had buyers that absolutely refused to look at anything on land that they didn’t own,’ Linsky said. ‘They didn’t understand it.’
Now, things have changed dramatically. ‘I closed one at $1,200 a square foot, quite spectacular on the fairway,’ he said.
‘It does have the annual lease payment but that is no longer a place where people say, “Don’t show me homes on Indian land’.’
While Palm Springs’ iconic neighborhoods such as Old Las Palmas and Vista Las Palmas remain top-tier, formerly overlooked areas are becoming more popular.
‘There were a couple of neighborhoods that took forever to go up in value, and now you can see the increase,’ Linsky said, citing Deepwell, Los Compadres and Indian Canyons as long-time underperformers now on the rise.
And it’s not just newer construction that buyers are after, either – vintage is back in a big way.
‘What people couldn’t wait to tear out, now – oh, my god – it’s money in the bank if you have a home that hasn’t been messed with, that is architecturally and design-wise intact and authentic,’ he said.
2504 N Whitewater Club Drive in Palm Springs is on the market for $350,000. The condo includes two bedrooms and one and a half baths
Formerly overlooked areas such as Deepwell and Los Compadres are gaining value as buyers look for alternatives within the city
Palm Springs may always have a ‘high season’ during the winter months and festival times but Linsky said the market was no longer purely seasonal.
‘We do sell, and always have sold year-round,’ he said. ‘We have statistics that show it.’
COVID helped reshape buyer behavior, too. ‘They came here for longer periods, and that also led to a lot more sales. People did that and said, “Oh my God, we’ve been missing this. We have to own here”.’
