A vacant lot in Altadena is worth what the strongest bidder can do with it. On September 30, the most anyone was allowed to do with most of those lots got smaller. So who is the strongest bidder now?
SB 1090 is the Keep Altadena Land in Altadena Hands Act, authored by Senator Sasha Renée Pérez and sponsored by Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. Governor Newsom signed it on September 30, 2026. It passed with an urgency clause and took effect on October 1. The law puts a three-year moratorium on SB 1123 in Altadena. SB 1123, the Starter Home Revitalization Act, allows up to ten housing units on certain residential lots. According to the chaptered bill text, that section no longer applies to housing projects in ZIP codes 91001 or 91003 when the application is submitted on or after October 1, 2026. The pause lasts until January 1, 2030.
That one line changes who shows up to compete for a burned lot, what the lot's price is based on, and which questions a buyer has to answer before writing an offer.
The bidder who just left
Land is priced on the most that can legally be built on it. If a lot can hold ten homes, the buyer planning ten homes can usually pay more for it than a family planning one. That higher bid then becomes the comparable everyone else has to beat.
Altadena had plenty of those bidders. In a Politico analysis published July 31, 2026, Redfin data counted 216 investor purchases and 202 non-investor purchases of vacant Altadena lots between January 2025 and June 2026. The count is rough. Redfin labeled a buyer an investor when the purchaser's name included terms like "LLC," "Inc." or "Company." Even so, it puts entity buyers at about half of Altadena's lot purchases through June.
Politico's reporting shows the 10-unit option affected real buying decisions. Stone West Homes bought seven Altadena lots and planned about ten houses averaging 1,750 square feet on each one. After County planners halted its permitting, the company dropped plans to buy two more lots. Co-owner Sean Beddoe told Politico that if the SB 1123 projects cannot go forward, the company will build large single-family homes instead.
That gives you the mechanism in a single company's decisions. The ten-home plan made the first seven lots worth buying. Once that plan was in doubt, two purchases didn't happen, and the fallback became one bigger house. SB 1090 makes that fallback the default for any new application in 91001 and 91003 through 2029.
What a lot can still become
The new law narrows the options without closing them. That matters because earlier versions of the bill went further. An Assembly committee analysis from July described a proposal that would also have paused SB 9 duplexes and lot splits. The final chaptered law amends the SB 1123 statutes only. Senator Pérez's signing statement says homeowners keep "their own ability to build ADUs or split lots."
So a lot's value now depends on these four pathways:
| Pathway | Status for new applications in 91001 and 91003 | What it allows |
|---|---|---|
| SB 1123 Starter Home | Paused from October 1, 2026 to January 1, 2030 | Up to ten units on qualifying lots |
| SB 9 two-unit development and urban lot split | Not amended by SB 1090 | Up to four units on the original lot where the parcel qualifies, with ADUs counting toward the limit |
| Like-for-like rebuild | Available through LA County | The prior structure's size, location and purpose, with up to 10% or 200 square feet more floor area, size, height or footprint, whichever is greater |
| Non-like-for-like rebuild | Available under current zoning | Subject to the Altadena Community Standards District, with a 20-foot minimum front setback |
Two details in that table affect pricing more than they first appear to.
The first is SB 9's eligibility. The Assembly analysis describes how a two-unit project and an urban lot split can together reach four units on the original lot. In Altadena, the eligibility question has another layer. Executive Order N-32-25, signed in July 2025, covered state-designated very-high-fire-hazard zones inside the Eaton and Palisades fire boundaries. It suspended SB 9 there through August 6, 2025, and after that gave local agencies more room to set their own standards in those zones. ABC7 reported in June that about 70% of Altadena sits outside the state-designated high-fire zone. Two lots a few blocks apart can therefore come with different SB 9 rules, and the parcel's mapped designation affects its upside.
The second is the like-for-like allowance. The County's definition depends on what stood on the lot before the fire, and like-for-like structures don't have to meet current zoning. They do still have to meet current building, fire, and health-and-safety codes. A buyer who wants the faster like-for-like review needs to know what the previous house was. That makes the lot's pre-fire records part of what's for sale.
The grandfather clause creates a second, smaller market
SB 1090 doesn't cancel applications already in the system. A proposal with a development application or preliminary application submitted in writing before October 1, 2026, can continue. To qualify, the applicant has to submit a complete application within 180 days of October 1, which comes out to roughly the end of March 2027. If the County then identifies missing information, the applicant has 90 days to provide it, or the application expires.
There is also a separate exemption. It covers projects where 100% of the units are affordable, with recorded deed restrictions of at least 55 years for rentals or 45 years for owner-occupied units, when the project is led by a community land trust, a qualified nonprofit, or a nonprofit housing sponsor.
As a result, Altadena now has two kinds of vacant lots. Most can't start a new SB 1123 project before 2030. A small number have an application that was submitted in time and still has a clock running on it. A lot in that second group may be marketed on its application, and the application is only as good as its standing with the County.
The County had already been rejecting some of these applications before SB 1090 passed. Politico reported that LA County voided three SB 1123 subdivision applications in the spring. The County's position was that the law doesn't cover lots surrounded by other vacant parcels, and Stone West sued over that decision. ABC7 described the number differently and said the County had voided "more than a dozen" SB 1123 building applications. The two reports don't reconcile their counts, and we found no reported ruling in the lawsuit. The same ABC7 story described a Punahou Street property listed for sale with approved plans for a multi-unit development next to a small single-family home. We found no public list of which projects qualify for grandfathering.
For a buyer, "plans on file" therefore covers a wide range. It could mean a submitted application, an application the County voided, one that's still incomplete with a March deadline coming, or actual approval. Each of those supports a very different price.
Where the buyer pool goes from here
There is no clean price data yet showing how the market reacted. We found no reported Altadena lot sales, price ranges, or buyer breakdowns for July through October 2026, so any claim that lot prices have dropped because of SB 1090 is a guess for now. Politico did report that some fire survivors worry limits on developers could lower property values or make it harder to add homes on their own land. That's the seller's side of the same mechanism. When one class of bidder leaves, the remaining bidders set the price.
A few things will decide who those remaining bidders are. The rebuild pipeline is large. Pasadena Now reported on September 23 that Supervisor Barger said Eaton Fire permits had passed 3,000, while about 3,000 property owners still hadn't pulled one. The same story covered six neighboring La Viña families whose homes were rebuilt as one coordinated project and were finished about six months after construction started. That story shows a rebuild timeline that doesn't depend on a developer buying the land.
Financing for owners who stay is changing too. Pasadena Now reported in August that Altadena Land Initiatives opened its Gap Rebuild Program to more homeowners. The program pairs zero-interest construction-gap loans through Cathay Bank with builders the nonprofit has vetted. Repayment is tied to future recovery funds, a sale, or a refinance. Every owner who can close the gap with that kind of loan is one fewer lot for sale. The buyer pool is getting smaller, and the supply of lots may shrink as well.
Before you write an offer on a lot
These are the facts that determine what an Altadena lot is worth after October 1:
- Is the ZIP code 91001 or 91003? SB 1090's pause is tied to those two ZIP codes.
- Was an SB 1123 application submitted before October 1, 2026? If the seller says yes, get the submission date in writing, along with its status with LA County Planning and any notice that the application is incomplete or has been voided.
- Where does the grandfather clock stand? Find out whether a complete application has been filed, or whether the 180-day window ending around late March 2027 is still open.
- Does the parcel qualify for SB 9? Check its mapped fire-hazard designation and the local standards that apply there.
- What stood on the lot before the fire? The prior structure's size and use determine what a like-for-like rebuild can include.
- Will you rebuild like-for-like or under current zoning? A non-like-for-like project falls under the Altadena Community Standards District and the 20-foot front setback.
These are questions to answer about the property. They aren't legal conclusions. A land-use planner or attorney is the right source for how the rules apply to a particular parcel.
If you need numbers on Altadena's broader market, our post on the three different markets inside Altadena's median price covers how lot sales distort the headline figure.
Quick answers
Does SB 1090 ban lot splits in Altadena? No. The final law amends the SB 1123 statutes. The sponsor's statement says homeowners keep the ability to build ADUs and split lots.
Does it stop investors from buying lots? No. An earlier version of the bill would have restricted unsolicited offers from large investors, but it was rewritten in June. The law as passed limits new development applications and doesn't restrict who can buy.
When does it end? The provision is set to be repealed on January 1, 2030.
Buying a lot now means pricing the rules and the financing together. A buyer who plans a like-for-like rebuild, an SB 9 project, or a lot that may still carry a pre-October application needs a different loan structure for each, from construction and bridge financing to bank statement options for self-employed buyers. Waymon Hobdy can review a specific Altadena lot with you and run the financing for each building option before you set your offer price. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
