Residential prices have skyrocketed in Playa Vista

Playa Vista, a 1.3-square-mile planned community about a mile from the Pacific Ocean, has become a tech hotspot known for tenants like Google, YouTube and Facebook. It has also attracted residents willing to pay top dollar for homes within easy reach of company headquarters.

The setup aligns because many tech workers can afford luxury condos and apartments, said Dori Nolan of Capri Investment Group, which owns property in Playa Vista on behalf of institutional investors.

“The average household income for a high-tech individual in Los Angeles in 2014 was approximately $95,000,” she said. Meanwhile, the average income in Los Angeles is currently $58,023.

Playa Vista residential properties such as ICON, Park Homes and Capri Court continue to experience an uptick after reaching record sale prices in Q4 2015. The average price per square foot increased 47 percent from Q4 2014 to Q4 2015, according to Playa Vista Living Real Estate data.  

“Playa Vista has extremely high barriers-to-entry with an ecological reserve at the western boundary and an office campus at the eastern boundary, making the area exceptionally attractive,” Nolan said, adding that the masterplan is almost built out.

With increased demand and limited inventory, homes are also appreciating. The average resale price of a Playa Vista single family home was $900,000 by mid-2015, up more than 17 percent from the previous year, according to data from Playa Vista Living Real Estate.

New construction is outfitted specifically for the tech-reliant tenants that developers hope to attract. Marlowe, one of Playa Vista’s newest neighborhoods to open, is selling homes with views of Yahoo’s headquarters, along with the YouTube and IMAX offices. This may seem like an odd selling point, especially on the beach-view-obsessed Westside of Los Angeles, but in the context of work-live-play developments, it fits the pitch.

Also fitting: there are category 6 data connections in nearly every room in the Marlowe properties.

Built by Brookfield Residential, which took over as Playa Vista’s master developer, the 30 single-family homes in Marlowe are among the priciest in Playa Vista. While most new single family homes list in the low- to mid-$2 millions, homes in the Marlowe have hit the $3 million mark, with several bypassing it entirely for higher figures.