multifamily

Though the fire impact could be temporary, housing construction had been falling before January, with city wide permits down 23% in 2024 from 2023, according to Hilgard which analyzes data from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety that includes permits for new single family and multifamily buildings, but not ADUs.

The number of multifamily units under construction has declined 22% year over year, pushing the city’s multifamily vacancy rate down to 5%, with tenants renting 10,000 more units than they vacated over the past year.

The study released Friday supports that view, with authors basing their findings on a drop-off in sales of property where multifamily homes are typically built.

And many multifamily developers sell their projects to other investors after finishing construction, and would impacted by the tax again when doing so.

To ensure more housing is built, the report recommended exempting from ULA multifamily projects built within in the last 15 years, which the authors say would only reduce annual ULA revenue by 8% at the most.