More LA homebuyers will pay premium to live near public transit: report

Brokers are now doing more to hype access to train line in particular, according to Trulia statistics

Trulia Chief Economist Issi Romem and a Metro Gold Line train at Atlantic Station
Trulia Chief Economist Issi Romem and a Metro Gold Line train at Atlantic Station

In notoriously car-centric Los Angeles, homebuyers are increasingly willing to pay a premium to live near transit.

A Trulia study of listings from 2013-2018 found that those mentioning public transit — trains in particular — sold at an average premium of 4.2 percent, according to the L.A. Times. Mentions of public transit also doubled over that period, and now and is now up to 4.5 percent of the total, according to the L.A. Times.

That is also an indication that brokers are learning to hype up access to transit in their listings. Transit isn’t desirable in all neighborhoods however.

The statistics seem to confirm the city’s move to encourage residential properties near transit hub lines, and include affordable components. The city implemented its Transit Oriented Communities program in 2017 to that kind of push multifamily development near transit.

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State Sen. Scott Wiener wants to upzone parcels near transportation with Senate Bill 50.

Trains in particular appear desirable, since mentions of bus lines didn’t grow over the same five-year period that Trulia studied. Mentions of the Metro’s Gold Line increased the most, the Times reported, according to the study.

Developers have been building along the Gold Line, including along its extension. Legacy Partners just completed a 261-unit complex at the Gold Line’s Monrovia Station.

The City of Duarte recently boosted the number of buildable units at an industrial site near its Gold Line Station. [LAT]Dennis Lynch