Deke's Investment Blog - February 27, 2020

Apartment property investors in downtown LA remain bullish. The number of rental units in downtown LA has roughly doubled over the past decade, from 17,100 units in 2010, to 34,000 units today. The increased supply has resulted in higher apartment vacancies downtown, about 10%, which is more than twice the LA County average. Yet apartment sales volume is booming. 2019 was the busiest year for apartment sales in downtown LA’s history, and ranked first in sales in all of LA’s submarkets. And prices continue to rise. 2019 average sale price was more than $500,000 per unit. That is up from $100,000 per unit ten years ago. Southern California Association of Governments expects the population in downtown LA to more than double over the next twenty years to around 200,000 people, and about 55,000 jobs added over the same period. LA should remain a vibrant apartment market for the foreseeable future.