Los Angeles, CA Multifamily Market Report Q3 2026
Demand Trails New Supply, Yet Rent Reaches a Record $2,922
Demand
During Q3 2026, the Los Angeles market absorbed 2,795 units, against -74 in the same quarter last year. Vacancy is 4.5%, 12 bps looser than Q3 2025. East Los Angeles is the tightest submarket at 3.5% vacancy; Long Beach leads rent growth at +3.9%. Trailing-12-month absorption of 7,031 units is down from 14,012 a year earlier.
Supply
Construction activity totaled 2,806 unit completions in Q3 2026 and 8,934 over the trailing twelve months (+9% versus the prior TTM period). Units under construction equal 1.5% of inventory, concentrated in South Bay at 3.7% of its stock. Annual completions peaked at 11,296 units in 2020. The 17,133-unit pipeline equals about nine and a half quarters of absorption at the trailing pace.
Investment Market
Transaction volume reached $16.3B in sales over the trailing twelve months, +126% against the prior TTM period; Q3 accounted for $9.77B. The high-water mark in this series is $13.5B in 2026. Q3 volume is 4.4 times the prior four-quarter average and likely reflects entity-level activity from the AvalonBay and Equity Residential merger, which also sets the 2026 high. Read volume as directional. CoStar records $2.27B for Q3; on that count trailing volume would be $8.8B.
Los Angeles cap rates average 5.41%, up for 19 straight quarters. Pricing sits at $308k per unit, lower for 4 consecutive years.
Volume
- $16.3B TTM volume (+126% YoY)
- Q3 2026: $9.77B
- Series peak $13.5B (2026)
Pricing
- Cap rate 5.41%
- Price per unit $308k
- Caps expanding 19 quarters running
