Up, up and away: Home prices soared 60% over 5 years in some parts of LA

It’s no shock that home prices have been steadily rising in Los Angeles over the last several years, but nowhere has that been as drastic as in fast-gentrifying Inglewood.

The median sales price in the city climbed 63 percent from the high $200,000 range in 2014 to $485,000 last year, according to real estate tracker PropertyShark, which analyzed the L.A. regional housing market. The report also measured the change in median home size and median price per square foot over the same period.

Some of the residential trends L.A. has seen over the last few years are clear from the data, including gentrification, the Westside tech industry’s growth, and the wide-scale replacement of small homes in Beverly Hills with larger spec mansions.

Inglewood is experiencing a surge of investment spurred by large projects in the works, namely the 300-acre L.A. Stadium and Entertainment District anchored by the future home of the L.A. Rams and L.A. Chargers NFL teams. The NBA’s L.A. Clippers franchise has also proposed building a new stadium there.

Multifamily investment in Inglewood has created concerns for renters who find themselves priced out of the city. Officials responded this summer with a local rent control measure.

The PropertyShark report found that nearby Culver City saw the second biggest increase in median prices, with homes in the Westside tech-friendly enclave selling for 60 percent more in 2018 than they did five years before. That spike works out to an increase from $800,000 to around $1.2 million over that period.

Despite the strong pricing growth, the median square footage of homes in both cities remained about the same. That meant both cities saw a 61 percent growth in price per square foot.

All but three of the 67 markets PropertyShark analyzed saw the price of homes grow from 2014-2018 and half of those saw prices appreciate more than 20 percent.

In L.A., the median size of homes sold across the city remained flat over that period, but prices surged 25 percent to $870,000 last year.

Homes are getting significantly larger in many neighborhoods and cities in the L.A. area, though. Homes sold in Redondo Beach last year were 80 percent larger than those sold in 2014, more than anywhere else.

In the pricey Malibu area, homes sold were 38 percent larger and homes sold in Beverly Hills were 32 percent larger last year than five years earlier. Both cities, as well as surrounding areas, have seen developers scoop up properties with small, aging homes in order to replace them with massive mansions four or five times the size.

Beverly Hills began limiting the size of new homes in the city earlier this year, despite strong opposition from many agents and developers.