L.A.’s Mansion Tax Has Raised $1 Billion—These Neighborhoods Are Paying the Most

The "mansion tax"—formally known as Los Angeles’ Measure ULA transfer tax—is approaching its third year in place and has generated more than $1 billion in revenue for the city.

The policy adds a 4% tax on the total transaction for property sales of $5.3 million to $10.6 million and a 5.5% rate for sales above $10.6 million. That tax is on top of a 0.45% tax Los Angeles already levied on all real estate deals. Both taxes are typically paid by the seller.

The levy has raised $1,032,880,148.93 through December 2025, according to a Los Angeles Housing Department online tracker.

"That's a lot of money taken out of homeowners' pockets and a serious artificial friction in the for-sale market," says Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com®.

The transfer tax generated about $307 million in the last six months.

Communities most affected by the mansion tax

Ritzy Westside neighborhoods of Los Angeles have accounted for more than half of all mansion tax sales.

The city’s 5th Council District, which includes exclusive communities like Bel-Air and Beverly Crest, contributed $253 million over 366 sales. The 11th Council District, which includes Brentwood and wildfire-ravaged Pacific Palisades, contributed $261 million via 404 sales.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has requested City Council approval for an ordinance granting a one-time, three-year exemption from the Measure ULA real estate transfer tax to homeowners impacted by the January 2025 Palisades fire. It passed an initial vote, but must go through further consideration by the full City Council.

Meanwhile, on the east side, Council District 4, which includes the Silver Lake and Los Feliz neighborhoods, brought in $132 million through 253 sales.

"On a $10,700,000 sale, ULA alone runs about $588,500 before you add the base city transfer tax, escrow, counsel, lender fees, broker fees, and carry costs, which turns many market deals into 'no deal,'" CPA and attorney Chad Cummings of Cummings and Cummings Law tells Realtor.com.

Several of the region’s wealthiest areas, such as Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Calabasas, fall outside Los Angeles city limits and are not subject to the tax.

Where the money is going

In summer 2025, Los Angeles approved a $425 million spending plan using Measure ULA funds, following an earlier $150 million allocation.

Revenue from Measure ULA currently supports 11 programs focused on renter education and assistance, eviction defense legal services, homeownership initiatives, and the development of new affordable housing.

"ULA keeps renters housed," Joe Donlin, director of United to House LA—the coalition that backed the November 2022 local ballot measure that approved the tax—tells Realtor.com. "It has funded 800 affordable housing units that are already finished or under construction. It's provided $30 million in renter assistance."

Donlin says Measure ULA also prevents displacement of seniors and people with disabilities, and provides protections against tenant harassment.

Reaction to mansion tax

Proponents say the transfer tax is providing critical funding to combat homelessness in Los Angeles.

“At a time when so many Angelenos are struggling with rising rents and economic hardship, Measure ULA is impacting real people's lives,” Donlin says. “It's a billion dollars working for the people of Los Angeles, including people who are experiencing homelessness and low-income renters. We're very pleased with what we've seen with ULA so far, and it's just getting started."

Critics say the tax constitutes an overreach, and that it has discouraged property sales.

"Naturally, clients are both confused and frustrated by this premium imposed through a ballot initiative," Rick Tyberg of Tyberg Duffy Group at Douglas Elliman in Beverly Hills tells Realtor.com. "Many believe that the funds collected should not be generated through a seller transfer tax, and their frustration deepens when they examine how the revenue has ultimately been distributed."

Los Angeles real estate agent Cara Ameer tells Realtor.com that "it has definitely put a damper on higher end sales in Los Angeles and caused a slowdown in the luxury market. It has made sellers reluctant to sell and buyers more hesitant to buy on some level. It has also triggered people to buy outside of L.A. where they don’t have the mansion tax, like in Orange County."

But Berner says it's hard to say that home sales over $5 million in Los Angeles have been clearly affected by the measure. "While 2023 was a particularly weak year for these high-end home sales in L.A., 2025 has been the strongest year since 2021," he says.

"There is evidence of a bunching effect, as the share of homes selling just under the $5.3 million threshold has increased significantly. It appears that sellers would rather take a little less for their home than to be forced to pay this tax."

Some believe the mansion tax has hurt property development in Los Angeles—since it applies to multifamily apartment buildings, too. 

"Measure ULA's most notable impact on the real estate market has been the suppression of investment in critically needed multifamily housing developments," 2026 Greater Los Angeles Realtors® Association President Chris Duff tells Realtor.com.

"Based on the city's own findings, the number of units being permitted for development has plummeted to COVID-era levels. With the high cost of real estate and construction in the region, any additional costs that have to be borne by the developer or the housing provider are an impediment to the construction of much-needed housing at a time where we need units on the market more than anything else."

Berner says that housing in California is pricey and hard to come by, and this measure will further exacerbate the inventory problem if it dissuades sellers from listing their property for fear of paying the mansion tax.

"The best thing this program is doing is helping to finance the construction of affordable housing, but it is unlikely that the impact of that component is making a big difference yet," explains Berner. "Rents are falling slightly in Los Angeles, but that has more to do with overall market conditions affecting the entire country than it does with Measure ULA."

Duff adds, "ULA is inadvertently harming those that it claims to help by making rental housing and housing of all types scarcer and discouraging the construction of new inventory which would help to naturally stabilize rental pricing.”

Legal pushback

Some critics have contested the measure in court.

Last month, a California appeals court upheld Measure ULA, rejecting a challenge from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association that the city lacked the authority to enact the tax as it was written.

"The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association believes that this tax is illegal and is continuing to pursue its appeal of lower court decisions that have, in our view, wrongly upheld it," Susan Shelley, vice president of communications for the association, tells Realtor.com.