Arcadia has 169 active listings and a $1,550,000 median list price: what the condo, townhome and house mix means for your budget
· City Deep Dive
Arcadia shows 169 active listings at a $1,550,000 median list price. Here is how to budget across condos, townhomes and houses.
Here is the Arcadia snapshot in our MLS feed as of 2026-11-14 (Pacific Time): 169 active listings, a median list price of $1,550,000, a median of 41 days on market, and a median of $677 per square foot. The previous snapshot, taken 2026-11-13, showed the median list price at $1,544,000, so asking prices barely moved from one day to the next. Those four numbers are the only Arcadia figures I will quote. The share of condos, townhomes and detached houses among those 169 is not something I will put a percentage on here, because this note sticks to what is in the feed row. You can see the full breakdown by property type, and the listings themselves, at tuhaousa.com/zh/city/arcadia.
If you are new to U.S. real estate, the three property types behave very differently. A detached single-family house comes with the land and the building, and you are responsible for the roof, the yard and everything else. A townhome is usually attached to its neighbors and often sits in a community with shared walls, shared grounds and a monthly association fee. A condo means you own the interior of a unit and a share of the common areas, and you also pay a monthly association fee. That fee is called HOA dues, and it does not appear in the list price, so it must be added to your monthly budget.
Why does the mix matter for budgeting? Because one median list price for a whole city blends very different homes together. When $1,550,000 is the middle point of everything for sale in Arcadia, a condo will usually sit below that line and a larger house on a bigger lot will usually sit above it. So do not read $1,550,000 as the price of the home you can buy. Read it as a reference point, then look at the property type you actually want and set your budget from there. A buyer with a smaller budget should look closely at the condo and townhome part of the distribution table, while a buyer who needs a yard should expect to be shopping above the city midpoint.
The other numbers help too. A median of 41 days on market means a typical listing has been waiting about six weeks, which suggests buyers are generally not in a rush-or-lose-it situation in this snapshot. For comparison with neighboring feed cities, Pasadena shows a median list price of $1,180,000 and $764 per square foot, while Orange also shows $677 per square foot with a median list price of $1,200,000. Irvine shows $1,599,999 and Yorba Linda shows $1,498,500. These are asking prices, not sold prices, and they cover different home mixes, so they are context and not a ranking.
Now the monthly cost, which is where new buyers are often surprised. Suppose you buy a $1,500,000 home with 20% down. The down payment is $300,000 (1,500,000 x 20%), and the loan is $1,200,000. Property tax in California is based on a 1% base rate under Prop 13, and the effective rate is commonly around 1.1-1.25%, so say 1.2%: that is about $18,000 a year (1,500,000 x 1.2%), or $1,500 a month. If the home is a condo with a $500 monthly HOA fee, add that to the $1,500, and you are at $2,000 a month before the mortgage payment and insurance. Closing costs commonly run about 2-5% of the purchase price, so keep a cash reserve for that as well.
On financing, Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week of 2026-11-12 reports a U.S. average of 7.11% for a 30-year fixed loan and 6.45% for a 15-year fixed loan. Please note that these are national weekly averages and not a quote for you. Your own rate depends on credit score, loan size, down payment, property type and occupancy, and a condo can be priced differently from a house. Treasure Mortgage can give you a current personalised quote. Conventional lenders generally look for a credit score of 620 or above, with better pricing at 740 and up.
If you are buying from overseas or do not yet have U.S. credit, you still have options. A foreign-national loan, for a buyer with no green card or U.S. status, generally starts at 30% down, and it is based on your passport. It does not require U.S. credit history, a Social Security number or an ITIN. On a $1,500,000 purchase, 30% down would be $450,000 (1,500,000 x 30%). ITIN loans also exist, F-1 students can buy and borrow, H-1B holders use the same programs as residents, and a down payment can be a documented gift. For rates on these programs, please see https://tuhaousa.com/rates/ instead of relying on any number I might guess.
For the process, escrow typically runs about 30-45 days with financing and roughly 14-21 days for cash, and the specifics depend on your case, so confirm with your agent and lender. My practical advice is to pick your property type first, price the monthly cost including HOA and tax, and only then compare listings. Open tuhaousa.com/zh/city/arcadia to see the full distribution table and the current Arcadia listings. If you would like help turning your budget into a shortlist, message Shirley and we will go through it step by step.
Want the numbers for your own situation? Text (626) 202-9573 (texting is fastest), call, or add ShirleyT611 on WeChat.