Lomita Homes for Sale | Schools, Water & Sale Rules

About Lomita

Lomita is a general-law city of about 1.9 square miles of land in Los Angeles County, at the base of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Torrance lies to its north and west, the Harbor City area of Los Angeles to its east, and Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes to its south. It began in 1907 as a land company’s subdivision. The history the City publishes says much of that tract went to Torrance, and that what remained incorporated on June 30, 1964, in part to halt annexation. It’s a contract city. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lomita Station and County Fire Station 6 are both on Narbonne Avenue, inside the city. The City runs its own water utility, Lomita Water, which has bought all of its water since 2019, when benzene took its only well out of service. California Water Service says it serves a portion of the city. Los Angeles Unified serves every home. Two City rules shape what a buyer gets. South of Pacific Coast Highway, a house is limited to 16 feet and one story unless the City grants a height variation permit. And before most home sales, the seller must obtain a City residential property report, which includes an inspection, and replace any plumbing fixtures that aren’t water-conserving. Mapped natural hazards are slight. The city has no special flood hazard area and no liquefaction zone, about an acre of landslide zone, and about 11 acres of fire hazard zone with no single-family lot inside. The larger mapped item is Torrance Airport’s runway protection zone, which covers about 130 residential parcels on the west edge.

The City-run Lomita Railroad Museum, a copy of a Boston & Maine station, with a 1902 Southern Pacific steam locomotive

Lomita Park, just over 7 acres, with a gym, a softball diamond and the Tom Rico Center

Lomita Water, the City’s own utility, with California Water Service serving the city’s southern tip

A City residential property report, with an inspection, obtained by the seller before most home sales

A 16-foot, one-story limit on homes south of Pacific Coast Highway, unless a height variation permit is granted

Founders Day on Narbonne Avenue each June, with the City’s fireworks show

Neighborhoods in Lomita

Downtown Lomita

The City’s 2018 Downtown Vision describes downtown as running along Narbonne Avenue and stretching east and west along Lomita Boulevard, and the General Plan’s downtown policy focuses on that intersection. City Hall, the County’s Lomita Library and the Takaishi Japanese Garden are here. So is Narbonne Plaza, across from City Hall, which the City rents out for pop-up shops and food-truck events. The zoning code places the Downtown Commercial zone in the historic downtown near the civic center. There, a mixed-use project the Planning Commission approves must have 20 to 30 homes an acre, with homes above the ground floor. Under an ordinance adopted in May 2026, commercial buildings there built before June 30, 1964 can change to another permitted use without adding parking, unless they’ve been substantially altered or expanded since 1964, but they must keep their existing spaces. The City’s Downtown Design Manual guides storefronts along Narbonne Avenue from the north city line to 247th Street and along Lomita Boulevard between Moon and Alliene Avenues and Woodward Avenue. It calls its own guidelines illustrative rather than prescriptive. Founders Day closes the downtown blocks of Narbonne Avenue each June.

Narbonne Avenue

The zoning code places the Neighborhood Commercial zone along Narbonne Avenue between Lomita Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, next to single-family neighborhoods. With a conditional use permit, mixed-use projects there may have 20 to 40 homes an acre. The same 2026 parking rule applies to its older commercial buildings. County Fire Station 6 is on this stretch at 25517 Narbonne Avenue. The Sheriff’s Lomita Station is about a quarter mile south of the highway at 26123 Narbonne Avenue. The history the City publishes says Nathaniel Narbonne, a sheep farmer, received 3,500 acres when Rancho Los Palos Verdes was sold off in 1882, and that his heirs later gave land for a school named after him.

Between Lomita Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway

The Housing Element says the neighborhoods between Pacific Coast Highway and Lomita Boulevard were built on large lots from the 1940s through the 1960s and hold many of the city’s older homes. On the assessor’s roll it’s the largest of the city’s three bands, with about 2,190 residential parcels. Fleming Middle School, the Railroad Museum on 250th Street and Hathaway Park are here. On the city’s western edge, on streets such as 251st Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, Bani Avenue and 253rd Street, about 130 residential parcels have their center inside the runway protection zone off the east end of one of Torrance Airport’s runways. About a dozen lots on 254th and 255th Streets have their center inside the county’s mapped inundation area for Torrance’s Walteria reservoir.

North of Lomita Boulevard

The band between Lomita Boulevard and the Torrance line holds City Hall, the library and Lomita Park, and about 880 residential parcels. The state’s well records show 14 plugged oil and gas wells along the city’s north edge, in the Torrance oil field, and the history the City publishes dates the local oil strike to 1923. A few streets on the Torrance line, such as Stanhurst Avenue, carry Torrance’s 90501 ZIP code although they’re in Lomita. In our sample of school assignments, every address north of Lomita Boulevard, and a few just south of it, was zoned to President Avenue Elementary in Harbor City for first through sixth grade.

South of Pacific Coast Highway

The Housing Element says the southern part of the city consists of hillside areas, and that the neighborhoods south of Pacific Coast Highway were developed in the 1970s and 1980s on uniform lots in subdivisions. On the assessor’s roll, about half of the roughly 1,660 residential parcels there were built in the 1960s and 1970s. The area is about a third of the city’s land. A house here is limited to 16 feet and one story unless the City grants a height variation permit. The condominiums on the 1900 block of Rolling Vista Drive and part of the frontage along Palos Verdes Drive North came into the city in a 1978 annexation. The state’s water system boundaries draw California Water Service’s Palos Verdes system over the city’s southern tip, including Rolling Vista Drive and the streets named Via. In our school sample, addresses at the southern tip were assigned to both Dodson Middle in Rancho Palos Verdes and Fleming Middle. The city’s only state landslide zone, about an acre, touches lots on Via Marquette.

The Crenshaw Boulevard edge

On the city’s northwest side, at Crenshaw and Lomita Boulevards, the 24000 Crenshaw Boulevard Specific Plan covers a site of about 2.5 acres. It allows up to 88 homes an acre and buildings about 64 feet tall, and the assessor lists a 220-unit apartment property there, built in 2022. It’s the only specific plan in the zoning code. Just to the south, the 88 condominiums at 24410 Crenshaw Boulevard were built in 1987. Both are in Lomita, but their addresses use Torrance’s 90505 ZIP code, and the MLS files the condominiums’ sales under Torrance.

Living in Lomita

Lomita Park, on Eshelman Avenue just north of Lomita Boulevard, is the City’s main park at just over 7 acres. It holds the Tom Rico Center, the Marc Fosnaugh Gymnasium, Belba Field, a softball diamond and picnic shelters. After 2026 work, the City says it has one tennis court, four pickleball courts and a new playground.

The Lomita Railroad Museum at 2137 West 250th Street copies the Boston & Maine Railroad’s Greenwood Station in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Irene Lewis built it in 1966 and gave it to the City in 1967. Its centerpiece is Southern Pacific locomotive No. 1765, built in 1902. The City’s Parks and Recreation division oversees it, and as of September 2026 it was open Friday through Sunday with free admission.

The City lists eight parks and gardens. Besides Lomita Park they include Hathaway Park, Irene Lewis Park beside the museum, Veterans Park, the pocket-sized Metro Park and Teuchert Park, dedicated in 2017. The Takaishi Japanese Garden in front of City Hall was dedicated in 1986 to Takaishi, Japan, Lomita’s sister city since 1981.

The Los Angeles County Library’s Lomita Library at 24200 Narbonne Avenue was dedicated in 1976 as part of the civic center. The County says the branch began in a local clubhouse in 1914.

Founders Day fills Narbonne Avenue on the last Saturday in June, with rides, music and the City’s annual fireworks. The City also holds a holiday tree lighting downtown and Santa at the Museum each December.

Metro Line 232 stops along Pacific Coast Highway every day, and Line 205 on the southern stretch of Western Avenue. Torrance Transit runs Line 5 on Narbonne Avenue and Line 9 on Lomita Boulevard, Monday through Saturday, and Line 10 on Crenshaw Boulevard at the northwest corner. LADOT’s Commuter Express 448 makes weekday peak trips from Pacific Coast Highway to downtown Los Angeles.

Schools Serving Lomita

Eshelman Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles Unified School District (elementary)

President Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles Unified School District (elementary)

Harbor City Elementary, Los Angeles Unified School District (elementary)

Lomita Math/Science/Technology Magnet, Los Angeles Unified School District (elementary)

Alexander Fleming Middle, Los Angeles Unified School District (middle)

Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle, Los Angeles Unified School District (middle)

Nathaniel Narbonne Senior High, Los Angeles Unified School District (high)

Humanities and Arts (HARTS) Academy of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District (high)

School assignments can change. Verify enrollment boundaries directly with the district.

Buying & Selling in Lomita

For Buyers

If you’re buying in Lomita, start with where the lot sits relative to Pacific Coast Highway. South of the highway, a house is limited to 16 feet and one story, and going higher takes a height variation permit with a silhouette, notice to neighbors and possibly a Planning Commission hearing. Ask the seller for the City’s residential property report. The seller must obtain it within three business days of signing the sale agreement and deliver it to you before closing. It can list the zoning, the permitted number of units, permits of record and any apparent illegal structures, and the City requires listed violations to be fixed within 90 days of the report. It doesn’t guarantee the house is sound, though, so get your own inspection. Ask which utility supplies the water. At the city’s southern tip, on Rolling Vista Drive and the streets named Via, California Water Service may serve the home rather than Lomita Water. If you plan an accessory dwelling unit, the City approves it ministerially, but a lot split under SB 9 is limited to the A-1 and R-1 zones and to owners who are individuals, community land trusts or qualified nonprofits. The City has no short-term rental permit, and a 2019 staff report called such rentals not an allowed use, while warning that citations would likely be challenged. Lomita has no local rent control, so state law sets the limits. Run the address through Los Angeles Unified’s school finder, using ZIP 90717 in its alternative search if the address has a 90505 ZIP. On the west edge, check whether the lot is in Torrance Airport’s runway protection zone. Ask whether any plugged oil or gas well lies on or near the lot, since a permit for a new building, an addition or a conversion to living space within 300 feet of one needs an engineer’s report and proof the well was properly abandoned. Finally, confirm the jurisdiction. A Lomita mailing address can be in Los Angeles, and a home with a Torrance ZIP code can be in Lomita.

For Sellers

If you’re selling, obtain the City’s residential property report within three business days of signing the sale agreement. It’s based on City records and an on-site inspection, which covers the interior only with your consent. It’s valid for six months, and you must deliver it to the buyer before closing. The buyer signs a receipt that goes back to the City. Any violations it lists must be corrected within 90 days of the report. Get it early, so unpermitted work surfaces before the buyer’s inspection does. The rule doesn’t apply to the first sale of a home in a subdivision with a recorded final map or to transfers between immediate family members, and a condominium building needs one report per structure. Separately, the City bars a sale unless every toilet, showerhead and faucet meets its water-conservation standards, makes compliance a condition of escrow and requires you to get a City water conservation certificate. That rule exempts transfers between spouses or between parents and children, foreclosure sales and properties the City exempts because of flat sewer lines. The City’s real property transfer tax is 55 cents per 1,000 dollars of value, and state law credits it against the county’s documentary transfer tax. Say which utility supplies the water, and disclose any permits behind past additions, especially a second story south of Pacific Coast Highway. On the west edge, say whether the lot is in Torrance Airport’s runway protection zone. The natural hazard disclosure report carries the airport notice only inside the airport influence area, which reaches about a fifth of an acre of Lomita, so the report may not mention the zone at all.

Local Market Insights: Lomita

Selling a home: the residential property report and the water-fixture certificate

Lomita adds two steps of its own to a home sale. The first is the residential property report, required by the municipal code since 2006. Within three business days of signing an agreement to sell or exchange a home, the owner or the owner’s agent must get the report from the City. It’s based on the City’s records and an on-site inspection. The interior is inspected only with the owner’s permission. If the owner refuses, the City may inspect the exterior from the street, and the report notes the refusal. The report can list the zoning, the permitted number of units, the permits of record and any apparent illegal or nonconforming structures or uses. It’s valid for six months. The seller must deliver it to the buyer before the sale closes, and the buyer signs a City receipt. Violations it identifies must be corrected, in no case more than 90 days after the report is issued, though the code doesn’t say whether the seller or the buyer must do the work. Failing to comply is a misdemeanor, but it doesn’t by itself invalidate a sale. The report doesn’t guarantee that a building is structurally sound or code-compliant, and it doesn’t stop the City from enforcing the code later. The rule doesn’t apply to the first sale of a home in a subdivision with a recorded final map, which in practice means a new home’s first sale, or to transfers between immediate family members. A condominium building needs one report per structure, valid for a year. The City’s 2026-27 budget, adopted in June 2026, lists 66 of these reports among its 2025-26 accomplishments.

The second is a plumbing retrofit. The code bars selling or otherwise transferring a building unless every plumbing fixture is water-conserving. That means toilets using 1.3 gallons per flush or less, showerheads and faucets of 2.5 gallons per minute or less, and an automatic shutoff valve on any home reverse-osmosis system. Compliance must be a condition of escrow, and the seller must get a City water conservation certificate before the transfer. Transfers between spouses or between parents and children, foreclosures and properties whose sewer grades can’t handle low-flush toilets are exempt. The rule applies to all residential, commercial and industrial buildings in the city, and the code makes no exception for homes that California Water Service serves.

The City also levies a real property transfer tax of 27.5 cents for each 500 dollars of value, or 55 cents per 1,000 dollars, collected by the County Recorder. State law credits a conforming city tax against the county’s documentary transfer tax. We found no sewer lateral or smoke detector certificate in the City’s code.

South of Pacific Coast Highway: the 16-foot limit and the height variation permit

In most of Lomita’s residential zones, a house may be 27 feet tall, or 35 feet in the R-3 zone. South of Pacific Coast Highway, the limit for a home on a residential lot is 16 feet and one story, not counting a basement, unless the owner gets a height variation permit. The code says the permit exists to regulate development in and near hillside areas so as to protect significant views. A permit can allow up to 27 feet. The area south of the highway is about a third of the city’s land, with about 1,660 residential parcels on the assessor’s roll.

The code defines a view as a distant scene such as the ocean, the Los Angeles Basin, city lights, the harbor, the shoreline or offshore islands. Developable vacant land doesn’t count. A significant view must span at least 45 degrees, seen from no more than 16 feet above natural grade and not from a required setback. To apply, the owner gets the adjacent owners’ signatures acknowledging they’ve seen the plans, or mails the plans to them by certified mail, and builds a silhouette of the project. The City notifies the adjacent owners and every owner within 300 feet, who have 14 days to object. The Community and Economic Development Director decides alone only when fewer than 5% of those notified object and no significant view from adjacent properties is obstructed, or the design keeps the obstruction to a minimum. A neighbor can appeal the director’s decision to the Planning Commission. Otherwise the application goes to a Planning Commission hearing, and the Commission’s decision can be appealed to the City Council. At a hearing, the permit can be approved if no existing significant view is obstructed or if the design is the least intrusive one. The Commission may add conditions for neighbors’ privacy and neighborhood compatibility.

Ordinance 895, adopted July 21, 2026, changes how height is measured, to the lower of natural or finished grade, while keeping the 16-foot trigger south of the highway. As of September 2026 it wasn’t yet in the published code. The limit reaches accessory units too. A detached accessory dwelling unit (ADU) may generally be 16 feet, or 18 feet within a half-mile walk of a major transit stop or a high-quality transit corridor, and up to 20 feet to match the house’s roof pitch. An attached ADU may be up to 25 feet or the zone’s limit, whichever is lower, so south of the highway it’s also held to 16 feet without a permit. Under Lomita’s SB 9 rules, as the code was published in September 2026, each new home is limited to one story and 16 feet. The Housing Element counts only one of its housing sites south of the highway.

Lomita Water: a City utility, an idle well and the treatment project

The history the City publishes says the City left the county water district in 1990 and took over Water District 13. Lomita Water, the City’s water division, reports 4,242 service connections, 3,935 of them residential. The City’s financial report counts 4,357. It isn’t the only utility in town. California Water Service says its Palos Verdes system serves a portion of Lomita, with imported water from the Metropolitan Water District. Neither utility’s reports that we read name the streets. On the state’s system boundaries, the homes on Rolling Vista Drive and the streets named Via fall inside Cal Water’s area and outside Lomita Water’s. Yet Lomita Water’s 2025 water quality report says it supplies the entire City. So check the water bill for a specific home.

The City has one groundwater well, Well No. 5, at the Cypress Water Production Facility on Cypress Street. When the facility runs, the City says, it blends the well’s treated groundwater with imported water and is the main source for the part of the city north of Pacific Coast Highway, about two-thirds of typical demand. On May 9, 2019 the City received a test result showing benzene in the well at 3.2 parts per billion. California’s limit is 1. On May 15, 2019 the City switched to its approved backup supply through the Metropolitan Water District, and it has bought all of its water since. Its 2025 water quality report says the water was bought from the West Basin Municipal Water District and that no benzene was detected in it. The City says imported water costs it roughly double what treated groundwater does.

Work on a granular activated carbon treatment system to remove the benzene officially began in March 2021, with up to 2 million dollars in Water Replenishment District grant funds. Its target slipped from 2023 to the winter of 2025, and as of May 2026 the City’s project page expected completion in 2026. The 2025 water quality report, released in April 2026, says the project is in final permitting with the State and the facility is expected to return to service once approved. As of September 2026 we found no source saying the well was back in service. The City adds no fluoride, though the imported water is fluoridated, and its water hardness is generally 260 to 300 parts per million.

Old pipes are the bigger bill the City has named. In March 2026 the City Council declared a fiscal emergency, citing aging water and sewer infrastructure. A sewer master plan received in October 2024 found nearly 3,000 feet of 90-year-old City sewer at risk of failure, some of it under private property, with repairs estimated at 10 million dollars or more. On June 2, 2026 voters approved Measure LW, a quarter-cent sales tax the City says will raise about 650,000 dollars a year. Separately, the City says it learned in late 2018 that pollution from a Hi-Shear Corporation site in Torrance may be spreading into Lomita. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board oversees the investigation and cleanup, and the City says its drinking water still meets state and federal standards.

Los Angeles Unified: schools by address, the Narbonne Zone of Choice and the magnet

Every home in Lomita is in Los Angeles Unified. On the county’s tax roll, every residential parcel in the city is in the district, and the state’s and county’s district maps each place more than 99.7% of the city in it. The history the City publishes says the city tried and failed to leave the district in 1989, 1993 and 1999. Three public schools are inside the city: Eshelman Avenue Elementary, Lomita Math/Science/Technology Magnet and Alexander Fleming Middle. The same history says Fleming sits on land Nathaniel Narbonne’s heirs gave for a school in 1921, and that Narbonne High moved from Walnut Street to Harbor City in 1958.

The district assigns schools by address through its Resident School Identifier. For this guide we ran a sample of 58 residential addresses across the city through it on September 30, 2026. It returned schools for 56. For high school, every one was in the Narbonne Zone of Choice. There’s no single assigned school. Families rank Narbonne High and the Humanities and Arts (HARTS) Academy, both in Harbor City, and the district assigns them by ranking and space, with no waiting list. For middle school, the finder gave Fleming for 44 addresses. For the 12 at the city’s southern tip, on Rolling Vista Drive, the streets named Via, Palos Verdes Drive North and Western Avenue near it, it marked both Fleming and Dodson Middle in Rancho Palos Verdes as assigned. We found no district page that explains that. For elementary school it gave Eshelman Avenue for 37 addresses, mostly in the south and center, President Avenue in Harbor City for 17 in the north and Harbor City Elementary for 2. The boundaries between them are irregular, so look up the address.

The Lomita magnet is a neighborhood school only for its youngest grades. The district’s brochure calls it a non-residential magnet with a residential magnet kindergarten. Students who live in its attendance area and are enrolled in transitional kindergarten have priority for its kindergarten, and other applicants are chosen as space allows. For 27 of the sampled addresses the finder listed it for transitional kindergarten and kindergarten, with a note that resident-area students are guaranteed placement but need a Choices application from kindergarten up. Any district resident can apply to its magnets. Choices and the Narbonne Zone of Choice both take on-time applications for 2027-28 from October 1 to November 6, 2026. Both accept later applications from December 1, and Zone of Choice applications in by December 31 still join the first round. An intra-district permit to another district school needs both schools’ approval, depends on space and carries no transportation.

Two complexes need care. The apartments at 24000 Crenshaw Boulevard and the condominiums at 24410 Crenshaw Boulevard use Torrance’s 90505 ZIP code. Entered with that ZIP, the finder said one wasn’t in its database and the other wasn’t in the district. Entered as 90717 through its alternative search, both returned the Lomita magnet, President Avenue, Fleming and the Narbonne Zone of Choice. The tax roll and both district maps put both in Los Angeles Unified. Torrance Unified’s own locator includes none of Lomita’s residential parcels.

Zoning, ADUs, SB 9 and rentals

Lomita has four residential zones, A-1, R-1, R-2 and R-3, with a 5,000-square-foot minimum lot. Maximum density is 10.89 homes an acre in A-1 and R-1, 19.79 in R-2 and 43.6 in R-3. A-1 and R-1 lots have a floor area ratio limit of 0.60. Houses need 20-foot front and rear setbacks, and side setbacks of 10% of the lot’s width, at least 3 feet and no more than 5. A second-story addition set back less than five feet from the side line needs site plan approval. The 2024 General Plan steers new housing density onto the commercial corridors of Pacific Coast Highway, Lomita Boulevard and Narbonne Avenue. The City says that protects the lower-density neighborhoods beside them. The state certified the Housing Element on October 14, 2022, and as of September 2026 the state’s records list it as in compliance. The rezoning it required, a Housing overlay on the sites in its inventory, was adopted in October 2024. The City’s share of the region’s housing need for 2021 to 2029 is 829 homes.

Accessory dwelling units are allowed in all four residential zones. The City approves them ministerially, with no hearing, and must act on a complete application within 60 days. An ADU can’t be rented for less than 30 days, and it can’t be sold apart from the house except as state law allows. The City sets no owner-occupancy rule for an ADU. A junior ADU requires the owner to live on the property unless it has its own bathroom.

Lomita adds limits of its own to SB 9, as the code was published in September 2026. Lot splits and two-unit projects are allowed in the A-1 and R-1 single-family zones, and only owners who are individuals can apply, not companies. Community land trusts and qualified nonprofits are the exception. The code’s use table also lists lot splits in R-2 and R-3, so confirm with the City. A lot split needs a lot of at least 2,400 square feet, and each new lot must be 40% to 60% of the original. The owner signs an affidavit to live there for three years and records a deed restriction against rentals under 30 days. Each new home may be up to 800 square feet, one story and 16 feet. The code also says that if an SB 9 unit is rented, it must go to a lower-income household at an affordable rent for at least 30 years. A July 2026 ordinance restated the section that holds these SB 9 rules under a planned-development heading, so the published text may change when the code is next updated. We didn’t research how the rental rule fits state law, so ask the City before you plan around it.

The code has no short-term rental ordinance and no express ban. In February 2019, City staff told the Council that short-term rental wasn’t an allowed use under the zoning code, while warning that citations would likely be challenged. ADUs and SB 9 homes carry express 30-day minimums, and the City taxes stays of 30 days or less at 10%. Lomita has no local rent control or just-cause ordinance, so state law sets the limits. The Housing Element counted 16 mobile home parks with 525 spaces. The code has no space-rent stabilization, but closing or converting a park takes a relocation impact report and City Council approval.

Torrance Airport’s runway protection zone, and the disclosure that follows a different map

Torrance Municipal Airport is in Torrance, and Lomita’s Safety Element says it borders the city on the west. The history the City publishes says it was the World War II Lomita Flight Strip. Los Angeles County’s Airport Land Use Plan, adopted December 19, 1991 and revised December 1, 2004, draws a runway protection zone off each runway end, identical to the Federal Aviation Administration’s. On the county’s map, the zone off the east end of one of its runways covers about 32 acres on Lomita’s western edge, about 2.6% of the city. About 130 residential parcels, with about 170 units, have their center inside it, on streets such as 251st Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, Bani Avenue, 253rd Street and McKenna Court.

In describing the FAA standard, the plan calls the runway protection zone the most critical safety area under the approach path and says no structure will be permitted there. Its operative safety policies are narrower. They prohibit storing more than 100 gallons of flammable liquids or toxic materials above ground on any net acre of a zone, along with certain lights and objects that would interfere with aircraft. A city must refer general and specific plan amendments and zoning and building ordinances inside the plan’s boundary to the county’s Airport Land Use Commission, and that boundary is the influence area that barely reaches Lomita. Lomita’s Safety Element, which counts five parcels in both the zone and the influence area, says the zone’s parcels are zoned and used for single-family homes. On the county’s roll, about a fifth of the 131 residential parcels in the county’s zone hold two or more units or a mobile home. The Element commits the City to keep land-use decisions there consistent with the plan.

The disclosure follows a different map. A natural hazard disclosure report must carry a “Notice of Airport in Vicinity” only for property inside an airport influence area, as an airport land use commission determines it. On the county’s map, Torrance Airport’s influence area reaches only about a fifth of an acre of Lomita, covering parts of three lots on Bani Avenue and 251st Street. Most of the runway protection zone in Lomita lies outside it, and no mapped noise contour reaches the city. The City’s 2025 hazard mitigation plan says aircraft going to or from the airport often pass over or near the city, and it proposes working with local airports to encourage fewer flyovers. The City refers aircraft noise complaints to the airport, saying it has no authority over airspace.

Fire zones, earthquakes, flooding and old oil wells

Most mapped natural hazards barely reach Lomita. CAL FIRE’s map of March 24, 2025 puts about 6 acres of the city in a Moderate fire hazard severity zone and 5 in a High zone, with none in Very High. City staff described the zone as land around Western Avenue and Palos Verdes Drive North that hadn’t been in a zone before. The Council adopted the map without changes by Ordinance 874 on July 1, 2025. On our measurement, the zones take in the centers of a store parcel and a government-owned multifamily parcel at that corner, and no single-family lot has its center in one. For a home in a High or Very High zone, Civil Code section 1102.6f calls for a fire-hardening notice when a house built before 2010 is sold, and section 1102.19 for defensible-space documentation under its conditions. New buildings in a High zone must meet the state’s wildland-urban interface building standards. Beside the zones, about 19 acres at the corner are federal land, which the state map leaves unzoned. Defense Department records place that parcel in the Navy’s San Pedro fuel depot.

The state’s seismic hazard map for the Torrance quadrangle, released March 25, 1999 and not revised since, is the only one that covers Lomita. It puts about 1.1 acres of the city in an earthquake-induced landslide zone on Via Marquette, in the south of the city about 470 feet inside its line, where 10 residential lots touch it and 3 have their center inside. It maps no liquefaction zone in the city, and the state has drawn no earthquake fault zone there. The City’s 2018 hazard mitigation plan says the nearest landslide-prone land lies just outside the city, on the Rolling Hills Estates line, so don’t rely on it for a lot on Via Marquette. A city must withhold permits for new development in a mapped zone until the site’s geology is investigated, and a seller must disclose the zone. The Safety Element names the Newport-Inglewood and Palos Verdes faults as active faults within 20 miles, and the San Andreas about 55 miles to the northeast.

FEMA’s flood maps put the whole city in Zone X, an area of minimal flood hazard, so no home is in a special flood hazard area. The Safety Element still lists storm drain deficiencies where ponding could flood private property, among them Pennsylvania Avenue from about 251st to 254th Street. The county’s dam inundation layer puts about 2.8 acres on the city’s west edge, on 254th and 255th Streets just north of Pacific Coast Highway, in the inundation area of the City of Torrance’s 10 MG Walteria reservoir, an enclosed concrete tank built in 1953. Eleven residential lots have their center inside it. The state rates the tank’s condition satisfactory and its downstream hazard high, a class it defines by the loss of life a failure would be expected to cause. We couldn’t read the state’s approved inundation map, which is the one the disclosure statement refers to.

A 1907 subdivision, a 1964 city and the contracts that run it

The history the City publishes, written by a resident, says the W. I. Hollingsworth Company bought a large tract just north of the Palos Verdes hills in 1907. It meant the seven-square-mile subdivision as a colony for Dunkards. The name comes from the Spanish for “little hills”. Oil was struck in 1923, and about 500 acres of the original tract went to the oil industry. By the 1930s the town was known as the “Celery Capital of the World”. Torrance annexed much of the tract, and by the early 1960s 1.87 square miles remained. The history says Lomita incorporated on June 30, 1964, after a couple of failed attempts, to halt annexation and to curb high-rise apartment construction. The County records one annexation since, in 1978, and a small reorganization in 2009.

Lomita is a general-law city with a council-manager government. After receiving a letter claiming its at-large elections violated the California Voting Rights Act, the City began districting in August 2022. The Council adopted five districts on May 2, 2023, and district elections began in November 2024. Elections fall in November of even-numbered years, and the Council picks the Mayor each year. City Hall is at 24300 Narbonne Avenue.

The City calls itself a contract city. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department provides law enforcement from its Lomita Station at 26123 Narbonne Avenue, which also serves Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates and Rolling Hills. Fire and paramedic service comes from the County’s Consolidated Fire Protection District. Its Station 6, at 25517 Narbonne Avenue, is the only fire station in the city. In 2026 the City took building permits and inspections over from the County, contracting with Willdan Engineering, and as of May 2026 its own Building and Safety Division handled them. The City owns its sewers, about 36 miles of them, and the County’s Consolidated Sewer Maintenance District has run them since 1964. In that district the owner is responsible for the whole sewer lateral, including the part under the street. Athens Services collects trash.

The City’s 2026-27 budget balances its General Fund at about 17.6 million dollars. Besides its transfer tax, it levies a 0.75% local sales tax approved in 2020, and Measure LW will add a quarter cent. Its code and financial report show no utility users tax.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many homes came on the market in Lomita this week?

As of October 1, 2026, the MLS showed 5 new active listings filed under Lomita since September 24. A home that came on the market and went under contract within the week isn’t counted.

How many Lomita homes are in escrow?

As of October 1, 2026, the MLS counted 4 homes filed under Lomita as pending or active under contract, meaning a seller had accepted an offer and the sale hadn’t closed.

What is the median asking price in Lomita?

The 14 active listings the MLS files under Lomita had a median asking price of $935,000 as of October 1, 2026. The MLS files a listing by the city in its address. So these figures can include a few homes just east of the city line in the Harbor City area of Los Angeles that carry Lomita addresses. They also leave out the condominiums at 24410 Crenshaw Boulevard, which are in Lomita but listed under Torrance.

Is Lomita a buyer’s or a seller’s market right now?

As of October 1, 2026 the MLS showed 1.6 months of supply among listings filed under Lomita, which this site’s thresholds call a strong seller's market. Months of supply divides active listings by the average number of closings per month over the past 90 days. Under 2 months counts as a strong seller’s market and under 3 as a seller’s market. From 3 to 6 is balanced, above 6 is a buyer’s market and above 8 a strong buyer’s market.

What did homes in Lomita sell for in the last month?

In the 30 days ending October 1, 2026, homes the MLS files under Lomita sold for a median of $805,000, or $552 per square foot, at 98.6% of their final list price on average. With only a few closings a month, a single sale can move these figures a long way.

Do you need a City report to sell a house in Lomita?

Yes, in most cases. Within three business days of signing an agreement to sell, the owner must get a residential property report from the City. It’s based on City records and an on-site inspection, which covers the interior only with the owner’s consent. It can list the zoning, the permitted number of units, permits of record and any apparent illegal structures. The seller must give it to the buyer before closing, and violations it lists must be corrected within 90 days. It doesn’t apply to a new home’s first sale in a subdivision with a recorded final map or to transfers within an immediate family. For most sales, the City also requires water-conserving plumbing fixtures as a condition of escrow, with a City certificate.

How tall can you build south of Pacific Coast Highway in Lomita?

For a home, 16 feet and one story, unless the City grants a height variation permit, which can allow up to 27 feet. The permit protects significant views, which the code defines as distant scenes such as the ocean, the city lights or the harbor, spanning at least 45 degrees. You build a silhouette, and the City notifies owners within 300 feet. If 5% or more of them object, or a significant view would be blocked, the application goes to a Planning Commission hearing. North of the highway, most houses may be 27 feet tall.

Is Lomita part of Torrance or Los Angeles?

Neither. Lomita has been a separate city since June 30, 1964. The history the City publishes says Torrance annexed much of the original 1907 Lomita subdivision before then, and that incorporating was meant in part to halt annexation. Addresses blur the lines. ZIP 90717 also covers homes east of the city line in the Harbor City area of Los Angeles, and two Crenshaw Boulevard complexes inside Lomita use Torrance’s 90505 ZIP code. The county’s parcel records show which city a home is in, by its tax-rate city rather than its mailing address.

Who supplies water in Lomita?

Mostly the City’s own utility, Lomita Water, which reports 4,242 service connections. California Water Service says it serves a portion of Lomita too, and the state’s system boundaries draw that portion at the city’s southern tip, around Rolling Vista Drive and the streets named Via, so check the bill for a specific home. Since May 2019, when benzene above the state limit was found in its only well, Lomita Water has bought all of its water. As of its 2025 water quality report, a treatment system to bring the well back was in final permitting with the State.

Which schools serve Lomita?

Los Angeles Unified serves every home in Lomita. Eshelman Avenue Elementary, Lomita Math/Science/Technology Magnet and Alexander Fleming Middle are inside the city. Of 58 addresses we ran through the district’s Resident School Identifier, 56 returned schools, and most were zoned to Eshelman Avenue or to President Avenue Elementary in Harbor City and to Fleming for middle school. All were in the Narbonne Zone of Choice for high school, where families rank Narbonne High and the HARTS Academy in Harbor City. The magnet admits by application, apart from its youngest grades, where children who live in its attendance area have priority. Check a specific address with the district.

Can you split a lot under SB 9 in Lomita?

Only in the A-1 and R-1 zones, and only if the owner is an individual rather than a company, or a community land trust or qualified nonprofit. The lot must be at least 2,400 square feet, and each new lot 40% to 60% of the original. You sign an affidavit to live there for three years and record a deed restriction against rentals under 30 days. Each new home may be up to 800 square feet, one story and 16 feet. The code also says a rented SB 9 unit must go to a lower-income household at an affordable rent for 30 years. Ask the City how it applies that rule.

Are short-term rentals allowed in Lomita?

The code has no short-term rental permit or ordinance. In February 2019, City staff told the Council that short-term rental wasn’t an allowed use under the zoning code, while warning that citations would likely be challenged. Accessory dwelling units and SB 9 homes may not be rented for less than 30 days, and the City taxes stays of 30 days or less at 10%. Ask the City before you plan on one.

Does Lomita have rent control?

No. The municipal code has no rent control, no mobile home space-rent stabilization and no just-cause eviction ordinance. State law caps most rent increases at 5% plus inflation or 10%, whichever is lower, in any 12 months, with exemptions such as newer buildings and many single-family homes owned by individuals. The City does require a relocation impact report and Council approval before a mobile home park closes or converts.

Is part of Lomita in Torrance Airport’s runway protection zone?

Yes. On Los Angeles County’s airport map, the runway protection zone off the east end of one of Torrance Airport’s runways covers about 32 acres on Lomita’s western edge. About 130 residential parcels have their center inside it, on streets such as 251st Street, Pennsylvania Avenue and Bani Avenue. The county plan prohibits storing more than 100 gallons of flammable liquids or toxic materials above ground on any net acre of the zone. A natural hazard disclosure report carries the airport notice only for property inside the airport influence area, a separate county boundary that reaches only about a fifth of an acre of the city.

Is Lomita in a fire hazard severity zone?

Only a sliver of it. On CAL FIRE’s March 24, 2025 map, which the City adopted unchanged by Ordinance 874 on July 1, 2025, Lomita has about 6 acres in a Moderate zone, 5 in a High zone and none in Very High. Both lie at Western Avenue and Palos Verdes Drive North. By our measurement, the center of a government-owned multifamily parcel is in the Moderate zone, but no single-family lot has its center in a zone. The City’s 2021 Safety Element, written under the older maps, said the city had no fire hazard areas.

Who provides police and fire service in Lomita?

The City contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, whose Lomita Station at 26123 Narbonne Avenue is inside the city and also serves Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates and Rolling Hills. Fire and paramedic service comes from the Consolidated Fire Protection District of Los Angeles County. Its Station 6 at 25517 Narbonne Avenue is the only fire station in the city.

What is the ZIP code for Lomita?

Lomita uses ZIP code 90717. Almost all of the city uses 90717. A few blocks on its edges use 90501, 90505 or 90710 instead. They include the condominiums at 24410 Crenshaw Boulevard and the apartments at 24000 Crenshaw Boulevard, which are in Lomita but carry Torrance’s 90505 ZIP code, so listings and map services often give their city as Torrance. The reverse happens too. On the county’s parcel map, about 260 parcels east of the city line in the Harbor City area of Los Angeles also use 90717. If you’re looking at a specific address, confirm its jurisdiction with the county.

Area	Median Price	30-Day Trend	Active Listings	Median DOM	Supply
Palos Verdes Estates	$5,380,000	Not available	25	55 days	1.7 mo · low
Rolling Hills	$5,212,500	Not available	14	98.5 days	Low sales volume
Manhattan Beach	$5,125,000	Not available	60	42 days	2.1 mo · low
Rancho Palos Verdes	$2,297,450	Not available	116	59.5 days	3.7 mo · medium
Hermosa Beach	$1,999,999	Not available	29	42 days	2.2 mo · low
Redondo Beach	$1,499,000	Not available	123	46 days	2.4 mo · low
El Segundo

Properties for Sale in Lomita

Market Snapshot

Is Lomita a buyer’s or seller’s market?