Sun City Palm Desert: Home Prices & Market Trends

Sun City Palm Desert has a wide range of floor plans, lot settings, and home conditions, so its community median is only a starting point. The latest MLS study shows more completed sales alongside softer typical prices. Use the size comparison below to find a more relevant segment, then explore floor plans, private pools, golf settings, and the longer market history.

• The latest study covers 312 usable closings at a $523,000 median price, from September 16, 2025 through September 15, 2026.
• Closings increased 7.2% from 291 in the prior 12 months. Median price declined 4.9%; median sold price per square foot declined 4.1%.
• All four home-size groups recorded lower median prices. The community-wide change was not explained by sales mix alone.
• Most sales—172 of 312—closed between $400,000 and $599,999. A plan, lot, and condition match is more useful than applying the $523,000 median to every home.
• The September 15 snapshot has 70 active-status listings: 59 apparently available and 11 contingent. Eight additional community listings are pending. Use Bloom for current availability.

Data dates: Updated September 15, 2026. The current comparison and inventory snapshot use September 15; the newest recorded closing is September 14. Annual history through 2024 and the explicitly dated long-term repeat-sale study are retained from the earlier analysis. The new export confirms the published 2025 annual figures and refreshes 2026.

Compare the market by home size

Choose a living-area group to see its closed-price median, marketing time, sample size, and price-per-square-foot comparison.

How to read this study

Sun City Palm Desert does not have one interchangeable resale market. The Sun City Palm Desert Community Association describes a gated 55+ community of nearly 5,000 homes, while its official real-estate overview identifies more than 50 single-level floor plans ranging from roughly 1,000 to 3,300 square feet. Compact villas, larger estate plans, casitas, private pools, remodeling, and golf-course settings can place two homes with the same community name into very different competitive groups.

That breadth is essential to understanding the latest numbers. From September 16, 2025 through September 15, 2026, 312 usable MLS-reported sales closed, up from 291 during the preceding 12 months. Median closed price declined 4.9%, from $550,000 to $523,000, while median recalculated sold price per square foot declined 4.1%, from $300.20 to $287.92.

The latest comparison shows increased sales activity at softer typical prices. More sub-$400,000 homes sold and fewer homes closed at $750,000 or more, which contributed to the lower community median. Sales mix was not the entire explanation: median living area increased slightly, while every primary home-size category recorded a lower median price and lower median price per square foot.

Six guardrails matter. All prices are nominal and are not adjusted for inflation. Rolling and annual medians compare different homes rather than following one identical property. MLS days on market may not capture a home's complete exposure under prior listing numbers. Feature categories overlap and depend on agent-entered fields. Active and pending prices are asking prices—not known contract or future closing prices. Private, off-market, deed-only, and differently labeled transactions may be absent.

The $523,000 community median answers a narrow question: what was the middle closed price among the 312 usable sales in the latest period? It does not establish the value of a particular St. Croix, Monaco, Morocco, San Remo, Pasadena, Portofino, or other plan after accounting for size, expansion, casita, pool, lot position, golf or water view, renovation quality, orientation, garage configuration, furnishings, and condition.

• Search current Sun City Palm Desert homes for sale on Bloom
• Explore the Sun City Palm Desert floor-plan guide
• Home Buying Study Guide (SCPD)

Latest 12 months versus the prior 12 months

The primary comparison uses two equal, contiguous, non-overlapping 365-day periods ending on the September 15 reporting cutoff. The newest recorded closing is September 14:

• Latest 12 months: September 16, 2025–September 15, 2026

• Prior 12 months: September 16, 2024–September 15, 2025

Completed sales are analyzed separately from active and pending listings.

*The latest median DOM uses 311 valid observations because one sale carried −160 DOM. That sale remains in price and transaction counts. Original-price calculations use 310 latest-period and 288 prior-period records after five apparent original-list-price entry errors are excluded. Changes are calculated before rounding.

The community completed 21 more sales, a 7.2% increase, while the median reported marketing time increased by one day. Median price, average price and median price per square foot declined. Higher transaction volume offset those lower typical prices, leaving total closed dollar volume nearly unchanged at $167.15 million, up 0.2%.

The difference between median and average DOM is also useful. Median DOM increased by one day, while average DOM rose by 8.1 days, from 60.9 to 68.9. That points to a slower-moving tail of listings. MLS DOM may exclude exposure under earlier withdrawn, expired, canceled or relisted records; it is not the full time from listing through escrow and closing.

The negotiation figures are not contradictory to softer prices. The median sale came closer to the final list price, and more homes met or exceeded that final price, but approximately four in ten valid records had already reduced the asking price before closing. Market-supported repricing and final contract negotiation are two different stages.

What Sun City Palm Desert homes actually sold for

The full latest-period range extended from $315,000 to $1.15 million. Those endpoints show the community's breadth, but neither describes the typical transaction by itself.

The central market was much more concentrated. A total of 172 closings—55.1% of latest-period sales—fell from $400,000 through $599,999.

The downward shift was visible at both ends of the distribution. Sub-$400,000 sales increased from 27 to 55, while sales at $750,000 or more fell from 40 to 24. Four homes still sold for at least $1 million. These changes in the mix of completed sales help explain the community-wide median.

This matters because the community-wide median is sensitive to which plans and property types reach closing. A year with more compact interior-lot homes and fewer large, highly upgraded, golf-positioned properties can produce a lower overall median even if the value of every individual home has not changed by the same amount.

Compare the larger 55+ market: Explore the Coachella Valley 55+ resource hub or the two-year sales study across six major 55+ communities.

Why the median price declined

Product mix contributed to the 4.9% headline decline, but three pieces of evidence show that it was not the whole story:

1. The median sold home measured 1,904.5 square feet, up just 4.5 square feet from the prior period.

2. Every primary size band recorded a lower median closed price and lower median sold price per square foot.

3. Every broad construction-year cohort also recorded a lower median price and lower median price per square foot.

Performance by home size

The 2,400-square-foot-and-larger tier showed the largest median-price decline: 9.0%, with 48 sales versus 51 previously. The three smaller categories declined by 2.4%–5.0%. All four size groups also recorded lower median price per square foot.

Smaller homes continued to command the highest price per square foot even though they sold for the lowest total prices. That pattern is normal: kitchens, bathrooms, garages, lots, and other high-cost components are spread across fewer square feet. It is one reason total price and price per square foot should never be used in isolation.

Performance by recorded construction period

These are analytical MLS cohorts—not official community phases.

All three construction-period groups softened. Each category still contains very different plans, lots, upgrades, and conditions, but the shared direction strengthens the conclusion that the market change was broader than a simple increase in compact-home sales.

The lower community median reflects both a shift toward less-expensive transactions and softer results within multiple product categories. These are comparisons of different sold homes; they do not establish that every Sun City Palm Desert property changed in value by 4.9%.

Where buyers found negotiating room

The strongest negotiation signal was not a dramatic discount from the final asking price. It was the frequency of price adjustment before the successful closing.

• Median sale-to-final-list ratio: 98.21%

• Closed at or above final list: 83 sales / 26.6%

• Reduced before closing: 123 of 310 valid original-price records / 39.7%

• Median reduction among reduced listings: $24,000 / 4.78%

Once a home reached its final asking price, the typical sale stayed reasonably close to that number. Yet 39.7% of valid recent closing records had already been reduced. Repricing before the successful sale was much more common than the 1.79% shortfall implied by the median sale-to-final-list ratio might suggest.

This is where listing history becomes more useful than a single ratio. Original ask, each reduction, time exposed, relisting history, competing inventory, property condition, and the closest plan- and feature-matched sales all help explain the final outcome.

Reductions became less common, falling from 43.1% to 39.7%, while the median sale-to-final-list ratio improved from 97.84% to 98.21%. Among listings that did reduce, the median dollar cut decreased from $25,000 to $24,000, while the median percentage cut increased from 4.55% to 4.78%. The two cut measures have different denominators and need not move together.

Inventory snapshot: September 15, 2026

Snapshot date: September 15, 2026

The community sample contains 70 listings coded active and eight coded pending. Eleven of the active records carry a contingent flag, leaving 59 apparently available listings. The available and contingent columns partition the 70 active-status records; they are not extra listings. One additional pending record with the broad “Sun City” label was excluded as an off-community property. Pending and contingent contract prices remain unknown until closing.

The latest 12 months produced 312 closings, or exactly 26 per month. The supply calculation separates apparently available listings from all active-status records:

59 apparently available listings ÷ 26 monthly closings = approximately 2.27 months of supply. Including all 70 active-status records, with the 11 contingent listings, gives 2.69 months. Pending records are excluded from both calculations.

This is a transparent snapshot-to-trailing-sales ratio—not a seasonally adjusted supply series or a forecast. A rare plan, extensively remodeled home, private-pool property, golf-course lot, or unusually well-priced new listing can face a much narrower competitive set than the community average.

Where the active listings were priced

The active-status market was concentrated from $500,000 through $599,999, with 30 listings, or 42.9% of the 70 active records. Eleven active-status listings had at least 90 reported days on market, including three at 180 days or more. The price-band and size tables include the 11 contingent records.

September 2026 supply by home size

The 70 active-status listings are spread across all four size categories. The 1,600–1,999-square-foot group had the longest median reported exposure at 41 days. The 2,400-square-foot-and-larger group had nine listings at a $719,000 median ask. These figures describe seller expectations in the snapshot, including contingent records.

The $529,000 median active asking price was 1.1% above the latest sold median of $523,000. Median asking price per square foot across all active records was $288.11, essentially level with the $287.92 sold median. The apparently available subset had a $529,000 median ask and $292.28 median asking price per square foot. These are different groups of homes and do not establish a future closing price.

All status counts describe the September 15 export. A review of the active listings found no additional clear current escrow or backup-offer indications beyond the structured contingent flags. Showing start dates and availability can still differ, and live status should be confirmed before scheduling a tour.

Search the latest Sun City Palm Desert listings on Bloom

How pools, golf settings, and casitas divide the market

Sun City Palm Desert's size and varied lot settings create several overlapping submarkets. The following groups use explicit structured MLS coding:

• Private pool: an affirmative private-pool field—not the generic community-pool indicator.

• Golf identified: an explicit golf-course lot or golf-course view field—not merely “golf course within development.”

• Casita: an explicit structured casita or guest-house field.

Private-pool and golf-identified homes sold at higher community-wide medians, but they were also larger than the typical sold home. Those cohorts can differ in floor plan, renovation, view, lot quality, orientation, privacy, and condition. Their results identify useful comparison groups; they do not isolate the value of one feature.

The intersection between pool and golf coding makes the overlap especially clear:

The practical conclusion is narrower than a universal “premium.” A private-pool home should begin with private-pool comparisons when enough recent matches exist. A golf-positioned home should be compared with similar golf settings before relying heavily on an interior-lot sale. The same principle applies to casitas, water views, greenbelts, privacy, and major renovations.

The September 15 active-status sample has explicit structured markers on 10 private-pool listings, seven golf-positioned listings and five casita or guest-house listings. These groups overlap and include any contingent records. Missing feature coding means the counts may understate the actual number of homes with each feature.

The official Mountain Vista Golf Club rate page describes golf as pay-as-you-play without a golf membership fee. That access structure is separate from the real-estate question addressed here: how a home's physical golf-course position, view, orientation, and lot characteristics affect its comparison set.

Why floor plan matters more than the community median

Sun City Palm Desert’s named floor plans offer a more useful starting point than the community-wide median. Usable structured builder-model fields identify a plan on 203 of 312 latest-period closings, or 65.1%. The table updates the seven plan families tracked in the earlier study. Spelling, punctuation, expansion and casita variants are grouped into their base plan family; no plan is inferred solely from marketing remarks.

Six of the seven tracked plan families recorded a lower median price, while St. Croix was unchanged at $569,000. San Remo has nine latest sales and five prior sales; Tangier has 10 and three. Those smaller samples deserve particular caution. Expansions, casitas, pools, lot positions, remodeling and condition can differ within a plan, and about one-third of current sales lack usable structured model data.

The table should therefore be used to choose a comparison set—not as a price list. A renovated St. Croix on a premium lot may not compete with an original-condition St. Croix on an interior location, and the community median may be less relevant than both.

See the complete Sun City Palm Desert floor-plan and search guide

The longer Sun City Palm Desert market cycle

Sun City Palm Desert's transaction history shows why one-year movement should not be mistaken for a permanent direction. Prices rose sharply, corrected through the housing downturn, recovered over the following decade, accelerated again during 2021–2022, and have moderated since the 2022 calendar-year high.

The selected checkpoints below use nominal dollars. Historical figures through 2024 are retained from the August study, and the new export reproduces the published 2025 annual statistics. The 2026 results are refreshed through September 15, with the newest recorded close on September 14. Older annual counts remain provisional because reciprocal-feed duplicates and differently labeled transactions are harder to reconcile.

From 1999 to 2005, the annual median rose approximately 125%, from $192,500 to $433,500. It then fell approximately 36% to $277,625 by 2012, while median price per square foot declined approximately 40%. The median subsequently more than doubled from 2012 to the calendar-year high of $577,000 in 2022.

The 2025 median of $529,000 was 8.3% below the 2022 high. The partial 2026 median is also $529,000, across 237 closings, while the primary equal-period comparison shows a 4.9% decline. Calendar-year and rolling-period windows contain different sales and answer different questions; 2026 remains incomplete.

What repeat sales add—and what they do not

Historical study, prepared August 9, 2026: The long-term repeat-sale results below are retained from the earlier analysis using closings through August 7. They have not been recomputed from the shorter September export. That study matched consecutive transactions by normalized property address, required a holding period of at least 180 days, and excluded lease-price artifacts.

The 221-pair subset covers later sales from August 8, 2025 through August 7, 2026. It does not represent a one-year return: the typical matched home had been held for 7.9 years. The historical analysis does not adjust for inflation, renovation, additions, pool installation, condition, furnishings or concessions.

Nearly one-quarter of the full-history matched pairs resold at a lower nominal price. Repeat sales are therefore useful property-history context, not a guaranteed appreciation rate or formal home-price index.

Closing volume is seasonal; price conclusions are not automatic

The earlier historical analysis found that, across the seven complete calendar years from 2019 through 2025, March and April produced the most closings on average, while November produced the fewest. This retained finding describes closing volume rather than the best month to buy or sell. Closings lag contract activity and can be affected by seasonal residency, holidays, financing and escrow timing.

What this report deliberately does not claim

That every Sun City Palm Desert home lost 4.9% of its value

The median of one 312-sale group was 4.9% below the median of a different 291-sale group. Lower results across size, construction-year and most tracked plan groups support broader price moderation, but the comparison does not control for every renovation, expansion, pool, lot, view, condition or transaction circumstance.

That active asking prices reveal future closed prices

The active median is a measure of seller expectations on one date. Pending contract prices are unknown, and active listings can reduce, withdraw, expire, or remain unsold. Asking inventory should be used to understand current competition—not as completed-sale evidence.

That a pool, golf setting, or casita carries one standard premium

Feature cohorts overlap and tend to differ in size, plan, lot, view, orientation, and upgrades. Their higher community-wide medians identify distinct comparison groups; they do not establish automatic appraisal adjustments.

That 2.27 months is a permanent or plan-specific supply measure

The 2.27-month ratio combines one day’s 59 apparently available listings with the trailing 12-month closing pace. Including the 11 contingent active-status records produces 2.69 months. Supply changes as listings enter, leave, go pending, close or receive corrections, and one plan can have a very different competitive set.

That the MLS provides a complete deed history or reliable HOA-fee ledger

Private, off-market, deed-only, differently labeled, and certain older reciprocal-feed transactions may be absent or duplicated. Historical association fields also mix stale dues and differently bundled charges. Current HOA dues, inclusions, transfer or reserve charges, age rules, rental rules, and property-specific assessments belong in the separate home buying study guide and should be confirmed through current association, escrow, title, and resale materials.

What the data mean for buyers and sellers

For buyers

The $523,000 median is a market marker, not an offer target. A stronger comparison begins with the same floor plan or a narrow living-area range, then accounts for expansion, casita, private pool, renovation quality, lot privacy, orientation, garage configuration, furnishings, and golf, lake, greenbelt or interior positioning.

Listing history deserves attention. Nearly 40% of valid recent closing records reduced before sale, and average DOM rose more than median DOM. Original ask, reductions, prior listing numbers, total exposure and nearby competition can reveal negotiating context that the final list price alone cannot.

The September snapshot offers approximately 2.27 months of apparently available supply at the trailing closing pace, yet 26.6% of recent sales met or exceeded the final list price. A rare plan, exceptional renovation, superior lot or correctly priced new listing can perform differently from the community average.

For sellers

The latest market rewarded supportable final pricing. Softer closed medians coexisted with a slightly stronger sale-to-final-list ratio because many homes adjusted before the successful contract. An ambitious opening price remains visible through reductions and accumulated exposure.

The strongest launch price begins with recent like-for-like closings. A pool, casita, larger garage, comprehensive renovation, or premium golf or water position may justify a narrower and higher comparison group, but each difference needs evidence. The highest-priced active competitor remains an unconfirmed seller expectation.

Historical context explains where the market has traveled. Recent comparable sales establish the best evidence of current value.

Frequently asked questions

What is the median home price in Sun City Palm Desert?

The median was $523,000 across 312 usable MLS-reported closings from September 16, 2025 through September 15, 2026. Median sold price per square foot was $287.92, median reported living area was 1,904.5 square feet, and median valid MLS DOM was 54 days. The community median describes the midpoint of these sales; a specific home needs plan-, condition- and lot-matched comparisons.

Are Sun City Palm Desert home prices going down?

Compared with the immediately preceding 12 months, median closed price declined 4.9% and median sold price per square foot declined 4.1%, while closings increased 7.2%. All four primary size groups and all three recorded construction-year groups had lower price and price-per-square-foot medians. These comparisons support broader moderation, but they do not show that every home changed by the same percentage or predict the next period.

What price range do most Sun City Palm Desert homes sell in?

From September 16, 2025 through September 15, 2026, 172 of 312 closings—55.1%—sold from $400,000 through $599,999. The full closed-price range was $315,000 to $1.15 million. Plans, living area, renovations, pools, casitas and lot settings create different comparison groups within that range.

What did the September 2026 inventory snapshot show?

The September 15 export contained 70 active-status community listings: 59 apparently available and 11 contingent, plus eight pending listings. Apparently available supply equaled about 2.27 months at the trailing pace of 26 closings per month; all active-status records equaled 2.69 months. The available subset had a $529,000 median asking price. Status and showing availability should be checked before a tour.

What most affects a home's value inside Sun City Palm Desert?

Floor plan and living area, renovation quality, lot privacy and orientation, private pool, casita, garage configuration, furnishings, and golf, water, greenbelt, or interior positioning can all matter. Because those factors overlap, the closest recent plan- and feature-matched sales usually provide a stronger starting point than a community-wide price or price-per-square-foot figure.

Sources, data methodology & update notes

MLS dataset and calculation rules

The September 15, 2026 refresh uses the supplied 120-column MLS export. Its “Sun City” subset contains 871 records: 792 closed, 70 active and nine pending. One off-community pending property is excluded, leaving 870 community records and eight pending listings. All 792 closed records have usable prices and living areas; 603 fall within the two current comparison periods. Older annual figures and the long-term matched-sale study remain sourced to the reconciled exports used in August.

• Primary comparison: 312 closings from September 16, 2025–September 15, 2026 versus 291 from September 16, 2024–September 15, 2025. Both periods contain 365 days. The newest close is September 14.
• Community scope: The pending record MLS MB-26191210 describes a 1961 house outside the Sun City Palm Desert development and is excluded. Genuine community villas, attached homes and records with blank or inconsistent subtype or parcel fields remain included when the property description and location support inclusion. The senior-community checkbox is not used as a blanket filter.
• Duplicates and prices: No duplicate listing numbers or supported same-property, same-price, same/adjacent-date closed transactions were found in this export. No lease-rate price artifacts were identified among the 792 closed records. Closed prices were not replaced with asking prices.
• Price per square foot and living area: Calculated from closed price divided by reported living area, with medians taken across individual properties. All current-sample living areas are positive and plausible; the historical 25,802-square-foot anomaly is outside this export.
• Days on market: Nonnegative MLS values only. One current-period sale, MLS 219146481, reports −160 DOM and is omitted from DOM calculations, leaving 311 current observations and 236 for 2026 YTD. Its price and closing remain included.
• Price reductions: Original and final list prices must both be positive, with original price between 0.5 and 2.0 times final list. Five apparent original-price errors are omitted only from original-price calculations, leaving 310 current and 288 prior observations. Medians of dollar cuts and percentage cuts are computed separately across reduced listings.
• Feature groups: Private-pool classification requires an affirmative private Pool Location, Pool Description or Pool Features field. Golf classification requires an affirmative golf-course lot or view field. Casita classification requires an affirmative Rooms casita/guest-house or Other Structures guest-house field. Generic community pools, golf access and garage fields do not qualify. Groups overlap; missing coding is not proof a feature is absent.
• Floor plans: Both structured Builder’s Model Name and Builder Model fields are used. Case, punctuation and recognized spelling variants are normalized; expansion, pool and casita variants remain in their base plan family. Usable model data cover 203 current closings. Marketing descriptions alone are not used to assign a plan.
• Inventory: The 59 apparently available and 11 contingent listings partition the 70 active-status records. Eight pending listings are separate. Price-band, size and feature inventory counts include all 70 active-status records; the supply discussion shows both available-only and all-active ratios. Asking prices are not known contract prices.
• Historical reconciliation: The new export reproduces the 2025 annual figures. It adds 38 records to the previously published 2026 count: 37 closes after August 7, plus one August 5 close (MLS 219139621) recorded in an August 10 update. Removing that late-reported record exactly reproduces the earlier 299-sale period’s count, dollar volume, median price and DOM. It remains included in this refresh.
• Retained historical work: Annual results through 2024 and the repeat-sale and seasonality studies remain from the August analysis. That earlier cleaned history contained 8,255 usable closings through August 7, 2026; its older off-community, price-artifact and reciprocal-feed exclusions have not been re-audited from the shorter export. February 9–10, 2013 remains an unverified seam between the historical files.
• Coverage limitations: Private, off-market, deed-only, certain builder, differently labeled, canceled, expired, withdrawn and relisted transactions may be absent or incomplete.

All historical dollar figures are nominal and are not adjusted for inflation. MLS information is agent-entered, may be incomplete or inaccurate, and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Calculations are by Desert Oasis Insider and may differ from published MLS statistics because apparent off-community records, price artifacts, and supported reciprocal-feed duplicates were removed or separately reviewed. Records and results may change as listings are added, corrected, or updated.

Community context sources

• Sun City Palm Desert Community Association homepage — 55+ status, community scale, setting, and current amenity overview.
• Official Sun City Palm Desert real-estate overview — single-level housing, plan breadth, approximate standard size range, casitas, golf-cart garages, and factors affecting price.
• Official Mountain Vista Golf Club rates — current pay-as-you-play golf structure.
• California Desert Association of REALTORS® MLS exports supplied for this analysis.

Update log

September 15, 2026: Refreshed equal 12-month comparisons, 2026 annual figures, size and construction-year groups, recorded plan families, feature groups, negotiation measures and inventory from the new export. Separated contingent inventory, excluded one off-community pending record, and kept historical repeat-sale results explicitly dated.

August 9, 2026: Rebuilt the analysis from two reconciled MLS exports; established equal rolling periods; audited community scope, price artifacts, reciprocal-feed duplicates, DOM, square footage, original prices, feature fields, plan names, current inventory, annual history, and repeat sales.

September 5, 2026 presentation update: Converted to the native article format and added a home-size comparison using the August study. That presentation update did not use a new export.