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Markets EdgeMACALLAN 1926August 4, 20262 min readAd-free
Los Angeles Condo Sales Jump 23% in Q1 2026 as Median Price Breaks $925,000
Luxury segment absorbs inventory faster than builders can deliver, tightening supply across westside submarkets.
Markets Edge deskMarkets Edge · Huang GoodmanSource: New York Post ↗
In plain words
Westside condo scarcity, **19-day** escrow velocity, and **11.2%** annual gains signal a structural shift favoring high-density luxury.
23%
quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2026
$925,000
a new record for the basin
41%
of transactions above
$2 million
up from
Los Angeles condo sales volume rose 23% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2026, with the median transaction price reaching $925,000, a new record for the basin. The westside—Brentwood, Century City, West Hollywood—accounted for 41% of transactions above $2 million, up from 34% in Q4 2025. Escrow velocity shortened to an average 19 days for units priced above $1.5 million, down from 26 days a year prior.
The surge follows 18 months of historically low new construction starts, creating a supply bottleneck in the 800-to-1,200 square-foot luxury segment. Developers who broke ground in late 2023 are delivering units into a market where pre-sale reserves already exceed 70% of inventory. One Century City tower, initially priced at $1,350 per square foot, repriced to $1,580 in February and still closed 88% of its remaining 47 units within 31 days. Foreign buyers—primarily from Asia and the Middle East—represented 19% of all-cash closings above $3 million, the highest share since Q2 2022.
The price appreciation is not cosmetic. Comparable sales data shows westside condos gained 11.2% year-over-year, outpacing single-family detached homes at 7.8%. This reverses a decade-long pattern where detached inventory commanded the premium. The shift reflects changing allocator behavior: family offices and high-net-worth individuals are rotating into high-density luxury product as a hedge against commercial office vacancy, which remains near 22% across greater LA. One allocator managing $840 million in California real estate told Markets Edge his fund doubled its condo exposure in Q4 2025, citing lower maintenance risk and stronger tenant demand from corporate relocations.
The inventory crunch will persist through at least Q3 2026. Only 12 new condo projects with 50-plus units are scheduled for delivery before year-end, and 9 of those are already 65%-plus pre-sold. Builders face entitlement delays averaging 14 months longer than pre-pandemic norms, and construction financing for speculative multifamily remains scarce—regional banks pulled back after the March 2023 crisis and have not returned at scale. Meanwhile, the California Coastal Commission continues to slow approvals in prime submarkets, adding 6-to-9 months to project timelines.
Operators should track escrow timelines and pre-sale reserve rates for the 22 projects delivering in Q4 2026. If reserves hold above 60% through August, expect another repricing wave. Single-family allocators may begin reallocating toward condo product if detached inventory continues underperforming on a per-square-foot basis. Watch for foreign capital flows from Hong Kong and Singapore, where local property taxes rose sharply in January; those buyers historically move to LA within 90-to-120 days of policy shifts.
The tightest supply in 15 years is meeting the strongest demand since pre-2008, and no builder is positioned to flood the market before mid-2027.
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For the principal
Consider rotating 5-8% of California single-family exposure into pre-construction westside condos with Q4 2026 delivery dates and verified pre-sales.
For the operator
Track escrow velocity and foreign buyer share monthly; if Asia-Pacific inflows exceed 22% by June, accelerate allocation into $2M-plus product.
For the house
Huang Goodman opened a $14M position across three Century City pre-sales in February, targeting Q3 2026 closings at blended $1,520/sqft.
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