Ventura County Housing Inventory 2026: Why Listings Are Tight

If you have spent six months refreshing listing alerts for Westlake Village, North Ranch, or Lang Ranch and seeing the same few homes, you are not imagining it. The county median listing price sat at $969,000 in March 2026, per Realtor.com data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and inventory remains historically thin. Here is what the data shows and how it changes your math.

How tight is Ventura County housing inventory in 2026?

June 2026 marked California's fifth straight month of annual inventory declines. The state had 106,880 homes for sale, down 6.0 percent from a year earlier (a smaller drop than the Realtors' 10.4 percent active listing figure, since the two groups count inventory differently), while newly listed homes slipped 1.4 percent, based on Redfin data. Ventura County's twist is that demand is growing faster than supply. County sales jumped 19.4 percent year over year in June while the median price eased to $937,500, according to California Association of Realtors figures for Southern California counties.

In months of supply, Thousand Oaks has run near 1.45, Simi Valley near 1.33, Camarillo near 1.85, and the city of Ventura near 2.14. Every figure sits below the statewide 3.1 months. When a buyer tells me nothing good comes up in Newbury Park, that arithmetic is why, and our first quarter numbers for the Conejo Valley showed the same compression building through spring.

Why is inventory so low in the Conejo Valley right now?

Three forces stack here, and none resolve quickly.

• Rate lock in. The 30 year fixed mortgage averaged 6.66 percent as of July 30, 2026, according to Freddie Mac. An owner holding a 3.25 percent loan from 2021 has every reason to remodel instead of list.
• Property tax anchoring. Proposition 13 caps assessed value growth, so long time owners pay a fraction of what a new buyer would owe. The Ventura County Assessor administers those base year values, which is why clients over 55 ask how to carry their low tax base with them, and why anyone crossing the county line should study how the two counties differ on taxes.
• There is very little room to build. Voters extended the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources ordinance through December 31, 2050, so farmland and open space cannot be redesignated for housing without a countywide vote. The 1,765 acre Wildwood Regional Park and its 27 miles of trails, managed by the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency, are permanent greenbelt. Thousand Oaks was assigned only 2,615 housing units for the entire 2021 to 2029 planning cycle, a small number for a city of its size. Roughly two thirds of county households already own their homes, per US Census Bureau data, and most of them have little reason to move.

Supply here is capped by geography and by the ballot box, not by builder appetite.

What does low inventory mean for Conejo Valley home prices in 2026?

Prices are holding rather than spiking, and submarket variation is enormous. Agoura Hills posted a $1.4 million median in the three months ending May 2026, up 11.0 percent year over year, while central Thousand Oaks came in at $854,000, down 11.5 percent as more entry level and condo product closed. Scarce supply supports values; the sales mix swings the median.

Source: Redfin market data, three month medians ending May 2026, with Ventura County figures for March 2026.

Pace matters as much as price. Zillow shows Thousand Oaks going to pending in about 17 days and Westlake Village in about 20, yet county days on market widened to 47 from 42 a year earlier. Both are true at once, as I unpack in why the average Conejo Valley home now takes roughly 51 days to sell.

What should buyers do when Ventura County home supply is this tight?

• Get fully underwritten, not just prequalified. Simi Valley homes have averaged three offers each, and a verified loan file often beats another $10,000.
• Look before listings go live. Many local deals never reach a public portal, which is why I track homes that trade before they ever hit the MLS.
• Widen the map by ten minutes. Buyers fixated on North Ranch often find value in Dos Vientos near Dos Vientos Community Park, or in Camarillo, where 1.85 months of supply makes negotiation realistic.
• Confirm school boundaries before you tour. Attendance areas drive value block by block in the Conejo Valley Unified School District, and Westlake High School boundaries alone move pricing along Lakeview Canyon Road.

Tour the neighborhood, not just the listing. Coffee at The Stonehaus on Agoura Road, a walk at the Wildwood trailhead off Avenida de los Arboles, then lunch in Old Town Calabasas at Pedalers Fork beats a week of scrolling.

Is 2026 a good time to sell a home in Ventura County?

For sellers who price accurately, yes. Thousand Oaks homes closed at roughly 99.4 percent of asking price this spring and 34.6 percent sold above list. The catch is that this market rewards accuracy, not ambition, and overpriced homes drove the wave of expired listings we tracked this spring. Buyers paying 6.66 percent interest will not stretch for an aspirational number.

Move up sellers hold the strongest position. You sell into thin competition, then buy in a higher tier where days on market run longer and negotiation is possible. I have watched families trade a Wildwood tract home for North Ranch or Lake Sherwood on exactly that spread, then celebrate over dinner at Mastro's Steakhouse near Gardens of the World.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ventura County Housing Inventory in 2026