Prop 10 Defeat Promises Strong Investment Year for L.A. Multifamily

Multifamily investment activity is expected to surge back—not that it really went away—following the defeat of Prop 10 in November. JLL’s Chris Benton, who recently joined the firm as SVP of multifamily investment in the Century City office, is advising institutional investors and says that the appetite is strong for multifamily opportunities in L.A. In addition to renewed confidence in the L.A. market, Benton says that the healthy economy will continue to drive activity.

“Los Angeles multifamily investment activity will be very active for a variety of reasons, mainly the defeat of Prop 10 as there is no more uncertainty there, at least for now,” Benton tells GlobeSt.com. “Additionally, there is lots good news on the jobs front, with several tech giants recently announcing expansion plans. Four of the seven largest companies in the world are expanding or opening new offices in the Silicon Beach area in 2019. The disparity of owning to renting is still a massive gap, and its won’t be closing anytime soon.”

In Los Angeles, industrial and multifamily have rivaled for the top choice among investors, and Benton says that will continue to be a theme in 2019. This year, however, multifamily investors could be more aggressive without concern over rent control expansion. “Industrial has had a great run. However, L.A. multifamily continues to attract more and more capital every year, and this year will be no different especially with the great job story and Prop 10’s defeat,” he explains.

While investment appetite is strong, Benton says that pricing could be exceeding expectations, and that may temper activity. “There were some large deals that went to market and didn’t trade last year, and I fear there is still a significant gap between asking prices and reality,” he says. “Also, some tertiary markets have some seen some very low cap rate sales, and I’m not sure those assets will meet their projections.”

Investors that are active will be focused on value-add deals, which remains the most sought-after multifamily deal in L.A. In second place: core deals, which have grown in popularity. “Value-add is still the belle of the ball. However with it being such a feeding frenzy to acquire, more and more groups are trying to acquire new, core deals into their portfolio,” says Benton. “The asking prices have been so astronomical, that there needs to be a meeting of the minds for any transactions to be made. The most sought-after submarkets will surely be those near all the new jobs; Hollywood, Culver City, Playa Vista, and West Los Angeles.”