TerraVue / Markets / Long Beach, CA
Over the past 20 years, Long Beach home prices have risen 3.14% a year; over the past three, 3.52%. TerraVue's forward estimate, which weights both, is 3.29%. That is 0.73pp below the national average, which matters more the longer you hold.
Appreciation is only one side of the buy-vs-rent question, but it's the side people guess at most badly. At the forward estimate of 3.29% a year, a home in Long Beach would gain roughly 38% in value over a decade — before any of the costs that actually decide the question: closing costs, maintenance, property tax, the mortgage interest you'd pay, and what your down payment would have earned invested instead.
Worth being explicit about what that estimate is: it blends the 20-year record (3.14%) with the last three years (3.52%), so a market in a sharp recent run-up or correction lands between the two rather than at either extreme. It is an estimate, not a forecast anyone can guarantee — which is exactly why TerraVue simulates a range of outcomes instead of quoting one number.
Rent is the other side. At a median of $2,310, the yearly rent bill in Long Beach is about $27,720. Whether buying beats that depends almost entirely on the price you'd pay and how long you'd stay — which is what the simulator is for.
This page describes the Long Beach market as a whole. Whether buying beats renting depends on the price you'd pay, your down payment, and how long you'd stay — TerraVue simulates about 1,000 market scenarios on those inputs and returns the probability, not a single guessed number. It'll start with 90805's real appreciation and rent already loaded.
Analyze a property free →Averages hide a lot. Across Long Beach's 10 ZIP codes, long-run appreciation ranges from 1.62% to 4.50% a year — a spread of 2.9 percentage points. Over a 10-year hold, that difference compounds into a substantially different outcome for two buyers in the same city.
| ZIP | Appreciation/yr | Recent 3yr | Rent | Bachelor's+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90803 | 4.50% | 6.35% | $2,502 | 59% |
| 90815 | 3.72% | 4.45% | $2,857 | 53% |
| 90805 | 3.71% | 4.38% | $2,169 | 17% |
| 90806 | 3.60% | 4.16% | $1,943 | 20% |
| 90808 | 3.55% | 4.38% | $2,806 | 47% |
| 90807 | 3.33% | 4.03% | $2,194 | 45% |
| 90804 | 3.21% | 3.18% | $2,193 | 30% |
| 90813 | 2.70% | 1.46% | $1,850 | 15% |
| 90814 | 2.54% | 2.61% | $2,425 | 56% |
| 90802 | 1.62% | -0.18% | $2,473 | 42% |
Sorted by long-run blended appreciation. Green is at least 0.5pp above the national average, red at least 0.5pp below; smaller gaps are left neutral. ZIPs shown as links have their own detail page.
Appreciation comes from the FHFA House Price Index — a repeat-sales index that tracks the same homes over time, which is why it isn't distorted by a change in the mix of what sold in a given year. TerraVue reads it at the ZIP level, back to 1975 where coverage allows.
The forward estimate blends 60% of the longest available look-back (20 years where available) with 40% of the most recent 3 years. Long-run history is the more reliable signal, but a market that has genuinely changed pace should not be ignored — the 60/40 split is the compromise, and it's the same figure TerraVue's simulation uses.
The national comparison is the population-weighted average of these same blended ZIP-level figures, so it compares like with like.
It depends on the price of the specific home and how long you'd stay. What the data settles is the market backdrop: over the past 20 years Long Beach, CA home prices have risen about 3.14% a year, and TerraVue's forward estimate is 3.29% — below the national average of 4.02% — against a median rent near $2,310. TerraVue runs about 1,000 scenarios on a specific price to return the probability that buying beats renting, plus the breakeven year.
Over the past 20 years, about 3.14% a year; over the past three, 3.52%. TerraVue's forward estimate blends the two at 3.29%. All of it comes from FHFA repeat-sales data across 10 ZIP codes, and individual ZIPs range from 1.62% to 4.50% on that same forward basis.
90803 at 4.50% a year, versus 90802 at 1.62% — a spread of about 2.9 percentage points a year within the same city.
Around $2,310 — the median across the city's ZIP codes, from the Zillow Observed Rent Index (all homes).