Despite the growing demand for housing supply in Los Angeles, single-family home development has slowed in 2018. According to LA Build Corp., the housing market has become saturated this year —largely because housing prices have pushed some buyers out of the market—and demand has tapered. In response, construction activity has slowed.

“It is true that the prices have been driven to an all-time high recently in the quest for single-family homes in the Hollywood area but it seems that the market has lately become saturated,” Ami Harari, president of LA Build Corp., tells GlobeSt.com. “There are factors that allow a property to have more value than others. It must have curb appeal; a good location without too many apartment buildings so that parking is not impossible and there is not a constant fluctuation of people moving in and out, near a good school district, etc. As the prices went up, the number of people who were able to purchase the homes started to taper off and so the market is not as in demand as what It was one year ago.”

Still, where land lots are available and feasible for new development—a rarity in Los Angeles—new home construction is happening. “New home development has been coming up wherever a lot has become available but the hottest areas are in the city,” adds Harari. “Young professionals have been snapping up the single-family homes because they are in the city but still have a quiet neighborhood. They can jumpy to most freeways easily to get to the beach, mountains or desert without driving very far and still be close to work.”

Availability of development sites is actually the biggest challenge in bringing new single-family homes to the market, rather than pricing. Land availability would encourage new construction and ultimately drive housing process down. “The biggest challenge is building a large home on a small-ish lot,” says Harari. “The mansionization ordinance that restricted buildable space and created some rules to avoid neighbors encroaching on each other's personal space. This has forced builders and designers to become more creative with how much backyard area the designate for a new build. One of the solutions has been the use of large aluminum doors that create an indoor/outdoor atmosphere and help bridge the gap of backyard space.”

When new single-family homes are going up, developers are including top technology—a must for many homebuyers today. “Home automation has been the greatest adopted technique in new homes in the past four years,” explains Harari. “We have gone from simple speakers in rooms to an entire home automation that people can literally program themselves to create different moods for each room, that incorporate lighting, music, temperature in the floors and ducts, setting alarms, timing steam rooms to activate—realistically, the sky is the limit with this new technology. There is no end to the new exciting things that are becoming available in this field.”