The Number Missing From Every Old Las Palmas and Vista Las Palmas Listing Right Now

A majority of Old Las Palmas homeowners have already signed a petition asking the city to bury the power lines running through their neighborhood. The Palm Springs City Council took the next step on August 26, approving the engineer's report that puts a real number on what that will cost. Depending on the parcel, the assessment runs from roughly $90,000 to $171,000 per property, part of a $10.1 million project that the neighborhood's own residents requested and will pay for through a public hearing scheduled for October 28. Homeowners can pay in cash or finance the balance through a municipal bond with a lien attached to the property.

None of that shows up in a listing price. It shows up later, in a mailed ballot, in an escrow conversation, or in a disclosure packet a buyer has to ask for directly.

That gap between what a home costs and what it's about to cost is the real story for anyone comparing Old Las Palmas to its neighbor across Palm Canyon Drive, Vista Las Palmas. Both trade on Palm Springs' architectural pedigree. Both draw the same design-minded buyer. But the financial mechanics sitting underneath each one right now are almost opposites, and neither shows up on the price sheet.

The Bill Coming Due on One Side of Palm Canyon Drive

Old Las Palmas is where Palm Springs residential real estate began, laid out in the mid-1920s on former citrus grove land by builder Alvah Hicks and developer Prescott Stevens. Roughly 290 single-family homes sit at the base of Mount San Jacinto, a neighborhood that has counted Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, and Leonardo DiCaprio among its residents over the decades.

The undergrounding push started with residents, not the city. District 1's petition, representing more than 60 percent of the assessable property area, was certified in October 2025. District 2 followed in March 2026. Chuck Nourrcier, the Old Las Palmas resident who has led the effort, put it simply after the council's August vote: "expensive is relative." Design work is expected to take 12 to 18 months once the assessment is finalized, followed by roughly a year of construction, which makes this a multiyear undertaking for anyone who owns or is about to buy in the district.

The pricing picture on top of that is unusually volatile right now because so few homes are trading. Over the three months ending April 2026, Old Las Palmas sold at a median of $4.2 million, down 15.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, on just six closed sales. Days on market fell from 313 a year ago to 90 now, a swing large enough that it says more about a thin sample than a settled trend. A broader look at active and recent listings puts the range closer to $900,000 at the entry level to $7 million or more for major estate properties, which tells you the median alone hides as much as it reveals in a neighborhood this small.

Into that mix comes The Twelve at Old Las Palmas, the neighborhood's first new construction in decades. The detached condo project near Palm Canyon Drive and Camino Monte Vista is asking $2 million to $2.495 million for three-bedroom, 2,245-square-foot units with private elevators and, in at least one unit, a rooftop cocktail pool. It's a real test of whether buyers will pay estate-neighborhood prices for low-maintenance living, at the exact moment longtime owners down the block are absorbing a six-figure assessment of their own.

The Tax Break Sitting Quietly a Few Blocks West

Vista Las Palmas sits between Old Las Palmas and the mountains, bounded by Via Monte Vista to the east, Stevens Road to the north, and Crescent Drive to the south. The Alexander Construction Company built the neighborhood's core in phases starting in 1956, working from designs by Palmer and Krisel and by Charles Du Bois, whose "Swiss Miss" A-frames remain some of the most photographed homes in the city. Robert Alexander's own House of Tomorrow, with its curved window pavilion under a batwing roof, was the 1968 honeymoon retreat of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. The Vista Las Palmas Neighbors Foundation organizes an annual home tour during Modernism Week, walking visitors down streets like Via Las Palmas, Abrigo Road, Ladera Circle, Camino Norte, and Rose Avenue.

No undergrounding assessment shows up in the research on this neighborhood. What does show up is a different kind of financial mechanism. Many Vista Las Palmas homes qualify for Class 1 or Class 2 historic designation from the city, which opens the door to the Mills Act, a program that can reduce property taxes by 50 to 60 percent for qualifying homes. That's a real, ongoing number, not a one-time hit, and it rarely gets factored into a buyer's side-by-side comparison of two similarly priced homes.

The tradeoff is that the same designation restricting a homeowner's ability to alter exterior features is what unlocks the tax reduction. A buyer drawn to a Krisel roofline is often also signing up for a review process before changing it.

Vista Las Palmas is also moving faster than its neighbor right now. Over the three months ending in early 2026, the neighborhood sold at a median between $2.4 million and $2.5 million, with one tracker showing prices up about 9 percent year over year. Days on market fell to somewhere between 29 and 43, down from 171 the year before. Active listings for restored or original-condition homes currently run from about $2 million to $3.7 million, with the spread driven mostly by renovation quality and which architect is attached to the deed.

What the Same Money Actually Buys

The table makes the point plainer than either price alone does. A buyer comparing a $2.5 million home in each neighborhood isn't comparing two versions of the same purchase. One comes with a countdown to an assessment bill. The other comes with a possible standing tax discount, paid for with a restriction on what the exterior can become.

What to Ask Before You Compare Two Listings

A few questions settle which mechanism applies to a specific address, and neither shows up automatically in a listing sheet.

• Does the property fall within Assessment District 1 or District 2, and has a ballot already been mailed with a specific dollar figure attached
• If the home is in Old Las Palmas, has the seller received the engineer's report assessment for this parcel
• Does the home carry an active Class 1 or Class 2 historic designation, or has it ever applied for one
• If Mills Act status is claimed, is there an actual recorded contract with the county assessor, not just informal mention
• What exterior changes, if any, does the designation restrict, and does that match how the buyer plans to use the home

Racquet Club Estates is watching Old Las Palmas closely, with its own neighborhood organization forming a subcommittee to weigh the same tradeoff between fire-safety upgrades and the cost of getting there. Whatever happens at the October 28 hearing will likely shape how other Palm Springs neighborhoods approach the same math.

A Few Questions We Hear Often

Does every home in Old Las Palmas face the same assessment amount? No. The engineer's report assigns individual figures based on the parcel, which is why the range runs from about $90,000 to $171,000 rather than a flat per-home cost.

Does historic designation happen automatically for older Vista Las Palmas homes? No. Designation requires an application and city review. A home can be architecturally significant and still carry no designation, which means no Mills Act benefit and no exterior restrictions either.

Can a buyer back out if an assessment surfaces after an offer is accepted? That depends on the purchase agreement and disclosure timing, which is exactly why confirming assessment district status before writing an offer matters more than confirming it after.

Comparing these two neighborhoods on price alone tells you less than it seems to. If you're weighing a specific address in either one, Douglas Turold can walk through the actual assessment district boundary or Mills Act documentation attached to that parcel before you make an offer.