Is Mar Vista Up 6% or Down 9%? Depends Which Site You Check.

Published July 26, 2026

Zillow puts the average Mar Vista home value at $1,855,319, up 6.1% year over year. Redfin puts the recent median sale price at $1.8M, down 8.8% year over year. Same neighborhood, same window, opposite direction.

Check Mar Vista home values on Zillow and you will see $1,855,319, up 6.1 percent over the past year. Check Redfin the same week and you will see a median sale price near $1.8 million, down 8.8 percent from a year earlier. Same neighborhood, same general window. One site says the market is climbing. The other says it is falling.

What each site is actually showing you

I want to be precise here, because the two numbers are not measuring the same thing, even though they sit on the same street corner of the internet.

Zillow's Home Values page for Mar Vista reports the Zillow Home Value Index, or ZHVI, a smoothed estimate built from monthly changes across every Zestimate in the area, not just homes that actually sold. I confirmed the number directly against Zillow's published ZHVI research data, which lists the same Mar Vista neighborhood figure. As of the update dated June 30, 2026, that index sits at $1,855,319, up 6.1 percent year over year. It is a model of the whole neighborhood's value, whether or not a given house changed hands this year.

Redfin's Mar Vista housing market page reports something different: the actual median sale price of homes that closed. I confirmed this figure against Redfin's public data center file for the same neighborhood. Over the three months ending May 2026, Mar Vista homes sold for a median of $1,825,000, down 8.8 percent compared to the same three month window a year earlier. That is a real transaction number, but it is only as good as the small sample of homes that happened to close in that window, and a handful of unusually priced sales can swing a median hard in either direction.

Neither site is wrong. Zillow is estimating value across every home in the neighborhood using a model. Redfin is reporting what actually sold, over a short and sometimes thin window. When few homes trade and the mix skews toward a few larger or smaller deals, the sale price median can move sharply even while the broader index barely budges, or moves the other way entirely.

Why this keeps happening in Mar Vista specifically

Mar Vista is a small, high demand pocket of the Westside, and that cuts both ways for these numbers. A tight inventory means few closed sales in any given quarter, which is exactly the condition that makes a median sale price jumpy. A handful of higher end sales near Mar Vista Gardens or Beethoven Street can pull a quarterly median up. A cluster of smaller lot sales the following quarter can pull it right back down. Zillow's index smooths through that noise by pricing every home in the area, not just the ones that sold. Redfin's number is more current and more concrete, but it is also more exposed to whatever handful of deals happened to close.

Neither approach is fake. They are built to answer different questions. Zillow is trying to tell you what the neighborhood is worth right now. Redfin is telling you what buyers actually paid, recently, for the homes that traded.

Why neither number is what a lender or appraiser will actually use

Here is the part most owners do not realize until they are refinancing or listing a property. Neither the Zillow index nor the Redfin median is the number a bank, an appraiser, or a serious buyer relies on when real money is on the line. A lender ordering an appraisal wants a small set of truly comparable recent sales, adjusted for condition, unit count, lot size, and location within the neighborhood, not a citywide average pulled from a website. An appraiser working on your building specifically will look at what closed on your block or one like it, not what the Zillow model estimates for every home in the area combined.

That gap is exactly why these two headline numbers can feel misleading if you take either one at face value. A rising ZHVI does not guarantee your specific property would appraise higher this year than last. A falling median sale price does not mean every seller in Mar Vista took a loss. Both numbers are neighborhood level signals, useful for spotting a trend, not for pricing a specific transaction. Treat them the way you would treat a weather forecast for the general area: informative about the conditions, not a substitute for checking what is actually happening on your own block.

This matters more for owners of small multifamily buildings than it does for a single family home seller, because there are fewer comparable multifamily sales to draw from in any given window. A single family home has dozens of recent comps nearby. An eight unit building in Mar Vista might have one or two truly comparable sales in the past year, which means the index and median numbers built for single family homes are even less reliable as a stand in for what your building specifically would sell or appraise for.

What this means for your building

If you own in Mar Vista and you have looked up your own value online this year, you have probably seen this exact contradiction and wondered which number to believe. The honest answer is neither number is about your property. Both are neighborhood level figures, an index model on one side and a thin sample of recent closings on the other. Your building's actual value depends on its unit mix, condition, rent roll if it is a rental, lot size, and the handful of truly comparable sales nearby, not a citywide or neighborhood wide average pulled from a website.

This is exactly the gap Schofield's financial model is built to close. Instead of leaning on one index or the other, we build a valuation off your property's real numbers, actual rents, actual expenses, actual comparable sales, so you are working from what your building is worth, not what an algorithm thinks the neighborhood is worth on average.

Common questions

Which number is more accurate, Zillow's or Redfin's?

Neither is more accurate in an absolute sense. They answer different questions. Zillow's ZHVI is a modeled estimate across all homes in the area, updated monthly. Redfin's median sale price reflects actual closed transactions over a rolling window, which can swing based on which specific homes happened to sell. Use both as context, not as a verdict on your property.

Why would home values be up on one site and down on another in the same neighborhood?

It usually comes down to sample size and methodology. A modeled index like Zillow's smooths across every home in the area. A sale price median like Redfin's depends on which homes actually closed in a given window, and a small number of unusually priced sales can swing that median in either direction even when the broader market is stable.

How do I find out what my Mar Vista property is actually worth?

An index number is a starting point for curiosity, not a number to price a sale, refinance, or ownership decision on. A property specific valuation that looks at your actual rents, expenses, and comparable sales, ideally paired with review from a licensed appraiser or broker, is the only way to know where your building really stands.

Last verified: July 26, 2026. Zillow figure cross checked against Zillow's published ZHVI research data for Mar Vista, updated June 30, 2026. Redfin figure cross checked against Redfin's public data center file for Mar Vista, three months ending May 2026. Both figures move over time and can update before you read this. This is general information for property owners, not investment or appraisal advice. Confirm current valuation and comparable sales with a licensed appraiser or broker before making any financial decision.

Kellie

Schofield Properties

323 Richmond Street, El Segundo, CA 90245

Topics: investing, mar-vista, westside, market-trends

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