LOS ANGELES—Many of the multifamily developersputting shovel to dirt in Downtown Los Angeles have cited amplejobs as one of the main drivers of the burgeoning market. However,Downtown Los Angeles, according to the latest report from the DCBID, has ahigh 18.4% office vacancy rate with large blocks of availablespace. While this number is an improvement from the historical 20%vacancy rate in the office sector, it begs the question, how isthis office market driving development? The answer: even with ahigh office vacancy, the jobs-to-homes ratio is still higher thanmost other major cities.

"Downtown is increasingly desirable as a place to live,regardless of whether you work here," CarolSchatz, president of the DCBID, tells GlobeSt.com. "Thatsaid, with a weekday population of almost 500,000 and a residentialpopulation of around 60,000 we still have a jobs-to-residents ratioof 8 or 9 to 1, which is significantly higher than other majorcities, even boomtowns like San Francisco and Seattle, so there isa lot of room for growth as an increasing proportion of thosedowntown workers decide to make downtown home as well."

According to the 3Q15 report from the DCBID, there are now25,000 multifamily units in the downtown pipeline, including 2,001condos and 8,600 apartments currently under construction. While theoffice market has some one of the highest vacancy rates in thecity, the multifamily market has an astounding 97% occupancy, whichis right on trend with the greater Los Angeles market.