DTLA condo development hits fastest pace since 2008 crash: report

Condo development in Downtown Los Angeles is at an all-time high since the recession, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Nearly 2,000 new condos are under construction or on the market, some of which are going for over $1,000 per square foot, insiders told the Journal. Prices for existing downtown condos are also up 3.3 percent over the past year to $628 per square foot, according to Polaris Pacific.

Nearly 80 percent of the 308 units in the first of three towers at Greenland USA’s Metropolis project are in contract, according to Cory Weiss, an executive vice president at Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, which is marketing the project. The second tower, slated to open next year, is 30 percent in contract, he said.

Approximately 100 of the 151 units at TEN50, Trumark Urban’s 25-story condo building at 10th Street and Grand Avenue, are spoken for at prices ranging from $600,000 to $4 million, according to Trumark’s managing director Arden Hearing, putting the company ahead of schedule on sales.

Industry insiders point to oversupply in the rental market and insufficient condo inventory in DTLA.

“Everything went rental for a while and not enough condo product was built to meet market demand,” Miles Garber, head of research for Polaris, told the Journal. “The pendulum swung too far.” [WSJ] — Cathaleen Chen