Los Angeles

The market in brief

Los Angeles is planned next, together with Dallas, after South Florida and New York. Its new condominiums gather on the Westside, where buyers trade a house and garden for service, privacy and a view, and in Downtown’s towers. We are preparing the market now and will open it once our first two stand on their own.

Area

The Westside, from Beverly Hills and Century City to Santa Monica and Malibu, and Downtown

Status

Planned, with Dallas, after South Florida and New York

Before any sale

A public report from the California Department of Real Estate

Reservations

Allowed under a preliminary report, held in escrow and refundable in full

Top-end transfer tax

Inside the City of Los Angeles, 4 to 5.5 percent of the whole price from $5.4 million

We will add market figures here when we open Los Angeles, drawn from the same kinds of sources as our other market pages.

Where new buildings rise

Beverly Hills

Wilshire Boulevard and the streets around it, where a small number of new condominium buildings sell at the top of the region’s market, often with hotel services.

Century City

A planned district of towers between Beverly Hills and Westwood, where new residential towers stand beside the offices on Avenue of the Stars.

Westwood and the Wilshire Corridor

A line of residential towers along Wilshire Boulevard, a short drive from the houses many of their buyers are leaving behind.

West Hollywood

Smaller buildings and hotel-branded residences above the Sunset Strip, with views south over the basin.

Santa Monica and Malibu

The coast, where new buildings are low and few, and each one is measured against the ocean view it offers.

Downtown

Bunker Hill, the Financial District and South Park, where the city’s tallest towers stand, with newer residential towers in South Park and along Grand Avenue.

How a purchase works here

A new condominium in California is sold under a public report from the Department of Real Estate. With a preliminary report, a developer may advertise and take reservations, but a reservation binds no one: either side can cancel, and the whole deposit, held in escrow, comes back. A purchase contract needs a conditional or final report, and the buyer receives a copy before signing. Under a conditional report, the sale cannot close until the final report is issued.

At closing, Los Angeles County charges a documentary transfer tax of $1.10 for every $1,000 of the price. Inside the City of Los Angeles the city adds 0.45 percent, and since April 2023 Measure ULA has added 4 percent of the whole price on sales from $5.4 million and 5.5 percent from $10.9 million, thresholds that rise each July. The contract says who pays; in California these taxes usually fall to the seller.

California’s Right to Repair Act sets standards for new homes, condominiums included. The builder must give at least a one-year written warranty on fit and finish, and most claims under the act can be brought up to ten years after completion.

What a developer works with here

• Demand before contracts. A preliminary report allows advertising and refundable reservations, so a launch can measure demand line by line before anything is signed.
• A clock on conditional reports. Under section 11018.12 of the Business and Professions Code, as the Department of Real Estate summarizes it (PDF, opens in a new tab), a conditional report runs six months, renewable once, or up to 30 months for an attached condominium of 25 or more units. No sale under it closes before the final report.
• Which city the building is in. Measure ULA applies only inside the City of Los Angeles, which includes Century City, Westwood, Brentwood and Downtown. Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Malibu are separate cities with their own rules. Price lines near the thresholds with that in mind.
• Insurance. Since the January 2025 fires, cover for buildings near the hills and the coast has become harder and dearer to place. Budget for it early, and show buyers what the association’s policy costs.
• Buyers from New York. Marketing a California building to New York residents brings New York’s filing rules with it, as our New York page explains.

Costs and rules at a glance

County transfer tax

$1.10 per $1,000 of the price in Los Angeles County

City transfer tax

0.45 percent in the City of Los Angeles, plus Measure ULA at 4 percent from $5.4 million and 5.5 percent from $10.9 million, from July 1, 2026

Property tax

About 1 percent of the purchase price plus local charges, with the assessed value rising no more than 2 percent a year

Homeowners’ exemption

$7,000 off the assessed value of a primary home

Warranty

At least one year on fit and finish; most claims under the Right to Repair Act up to ten years

A launch, step by step

1. Preliminary report. Advertising and refundable reservations begin, and prices and lines are tested before contracts.
2. Conditional or final report. Purchase contracts are signed, each buyer receiving the report first.
3. Construction. Under a conditional report, the final report must be issued before any sale closes. Weekly reporting shows whether pace meets the lender’s threshold.
4. Closings. Title passes after the final report, with transfer taxes paid as the contract sets.

What we will do here

When we open Los Angeles, we will work as we do in our other markets: advice before launch on pricing, unit mix, plans and amenities, the buyer profile and the launch strategy, then a sales report every Monday against the plan. If you are planning a building on the Westside or Downtown, we are glad to talk it through now. 

Sources

1. California Department of Real Estate, preliminary public report notice (PDF, opens in a new tab) and conditional public report application (PDF, opens in a new tab).
2. Measure ULA thresholds from July 1, 2026, as reported by Hanson Bridgett (opens in a new tab).
3. California’s Right to Repair Act, summarized by FindLaw (opens in a new tab).

General information only, not legal, tax or investment advice. California’s rules and Los Angeles’s thresholds change, and every project is different. Review any purchase or project with a California real estate attorney.