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(Image generated with MidJourney)<\/p>\n
The real estate sector is like a thermometer that measures the health of the Los Angeles economy. Lately, it\u2019s giving some mixed signals.<\/p>\n
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The median price of homes sold is flat, even though the supply of new units has trended down in recent years. Rents are stagnant, but still too high for many.<\/p>\n
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To give some perspective, Crosstown put together five charts about the Los Angeles real estate market.<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s how many permits for new construction have been issued across the city over the past decade. It\u2019s an important gauge of economic vitality, as construction brings investment and employment, and leaves behind either more housing or more commercial space.<\/p>\n
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In the first four months of 2026, the total number of permits for new construction is 1,634. During the same period last year it was 1,422, a 14% increase.<\/p>\n
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That statistic needs an asterisk. Rebuilding in the Pacific Palisades accounted for 445 of those permits. Without that fire-induced increase, this year would be trailing last year by nearly 17%<\/p>\n
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Get data on housing, crime and more about your Los Angeles neighborhood. Sign up for the Crosstown Neighborhood Newsletter.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Vacancy rates<\/p>\n Apartment vacancy rates, the percentage of places that are on the market with no occupant, have moved up from historic lows. That is good news for renters, as higher vacancies mean that the city\u2019s historically tight rental market might be easing up.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n However, compared with other housing markets, such as Austin, Texas, all California cities have basement-level vacancy rates.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Rob Warnock, the lead economic researcher at Apartment List, said there is generally a \u201cstrong correlation\u201d between rents and vacancy rates. He described both San Diego and Los Angeles as experiencing \u201csoft market\u201d conditions right now, the result of weakening demand, an uncertain labor market and recent additions to housing supply. San Francisco is moving in the opposite direction, as investment in artificial intelligence firms floods the city.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n For rent<\/strong><\/p>\n The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the city of Los Angeles right now is\u00a0$2,348, according to Apartment List data. Three years ago it was $2,473, a 5% decrease. To be sure, rents in all these California cities are still unaffordable for many.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Trying to buy a home? It\u2019s a similar story. The median sale price for a single-family home in Los Angeles County in April was $828,300, at the same level it was a year ago, according to the California Association of Realtors<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s still significantly cheaper than Orange County ($1.468 million) and Ventura County ($979,000). The median sale price for a home in Riverside County was $643,740. In San Bernardino it was $502,600.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Office space<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for commercial space to rent, you\u2019re in luck. Roughly a quarter of the office space in greater Los Angeles is vacant, according to data from Colliers International<\/a>, the consequence of work-from-home routines, a stagnant labor market and other factors. Prices can vary widely, with Century City commanding top dollar, at $7.58 per square foot. Travel a few miles east and the price drops. Mid-Wilshire office space is leasing for $2.82.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Could all that empty office space be converted to housing? It\u2019s called adaptive reuse. Sounds easy, but it is often much more complicated, involving zoning regulation, electrical and plumbing upgrades and so forth.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not impossible. Last month, Mayor Karen Bass announced a project to convert a Downtown office building into 512 apartments<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n How we did it<\/strong>: We examined building permit data going back a decade, as well as vacancy and rent data from Apartment List. We compiled the office vacancy rates from quarterly reports from Colliers International.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n