Diversifying your portfolio with property is a well-known means of building wealth in the long term. What’s less specific is where you should make those real estate investments to start.
After four decades in Los Angeles real estate, the team of real estate professionals at Christina has developed a strong sense of what makes a hot market.
The best real estate in Los Angeles is likely to be the best in the entire country. When it comes to today’s most robust opportunities, you can’t do better than the Los Angeles neighborhood of Playa Vista.
Choose Playa Vista Real Estate
You’ll rarely find the kind of explosive potential in a certified blue-chip real estate market like Playa Vista.
With the economic forces and market trends in this relatively new and niche Los Angeles neighborhood, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for investors to get in on hyper-premium real estate.
Let’s explore why you should invest in Playa Vista real estate.
Where Is Playa Vista?
Playa Vista is a neighborhood in Los Angeles’ renowned Westside region.
Right on the Pacific coast, it’s surrounded by legacy Los Angeles neighborhoods. Venice borders it just to the north, and further beyond is Santa Monica. To the south, Westchester and Playa Del Rey.
How Big Is Playa Vista?
Compared to other Los Angeles neighborhoods, Playa Vista is relatively small. Despite its small size, it is nevertheless a large competitor in L.A.’s hottest markets.
It’s barely two square miles large, almost half the size of Venice to the north.
The population is 13,697, indicating that this small, niche neighborhood houses a substantial population for its size.
How Much Housing Is There In Playa Vista?
The amount of housing in Playa Vista is small but growing.
It was built as a community meant to accommodate luxury homes, affordable housing, commercial spaces, and green spaces in a seamless blend of what makes city living special.
There are 6,685 housing units in Playa Vista. Most were built in the 2000s. A steady bump in new housing in the 2010s indicates that much more development is planned for this high-performance neighborhood.
To keep up to date on future development in Playa Vista and other Los Angeles neighborhoods, check out our press portal for the latest news from the L.A. real estate market.
Why Invest in Playa Vista?
- Great location
- Silicon Beach: Residential and commercial
- Lots of money circulating within the neighborhood
It Has Strong Economic Roots
The Playa Vista real estate market benefits from solid economic roots ensuring high performance.
The neighborhood is considered a notable member of the Silicon Beach phenomenon, an economic trend in the Westside region of Los Angeles where billion-dollar tech companies have moved in to set up central headquarters and offices.
Silicon Beach takes its name from northern California’s Silicon Valley, a world-famous economic ecosystem that has fostered the growth of the globe’s most successful tech giants. Since 2011, after Google set up a vast campus in Santa Monica, dozens of other big names in tech have followed suit.
Every year, tech startups and brand-name companies shop in neighborhoods like Playa Vista in the Westside region.
This makes a better market for investors in two ways.
- Commercial Real Estate Is Highly Lucrative: With such towering figures in tech filling office space in Silicon Beach neighborhoods, the value of commercial real estate has exploded. From small office buildings to enormous campuses, tech operations are clamoring for space to establish themselves in this deepening economic ecosystem.
When the tenants competing for office space are billion-dollar corporations or startups with substantial financial backing from investment firms, the commercial real estate leases become an extremely high-value commodity.
Here are a few tech companies that have set up in Playa Vista:
- Flexport
- Appetize
- Core Digital Media
- Centerfield
- Science 37
- Belkin International
- The demand for high-value housing has exploded: The presence of big tech companies both within Playa Vista and surrounding neighborhoods make real estate investments here all the more valuable. Companies setting up headquarters spaces in Silicon Beach necessarily bring an expansive workforce.
This workforce needs places to live.
As a result, neighborhoods like Playa Vista are seeing a substantial influx of high-income earning residents. The average income of Playa Vista residents is currently 170,000, and only appears to rise as years pass and the tech presence increases.
Rental properties have become highly competitive as landlords can raise their rates as the pool of prospective renters are more upwardly mobile.
It’s a Great Location
Playa Vista’s location alone makes it a high-potential real estate market.
It’s right on the beach. Waterfront locations raise the value of real estate virtually across the board; when that waterfront property is on the golden beaches of Los Angeles’ Pacific coast, the property will skyrocket.
But Playa Vista’s location is influenced by its proximity to the beach. It’s close to LAX, the largest airport in Western North America. Playa Vista is moments away from crucial transportation amenities; the 405 is nearby, which connects residents to one of the city’s main arterial highways in no time.
Playa Vista benefits because it is in the heart of the Silicon Beach neighborhoods. In addition to hosting an increasing number of tech companies and employees within its borders, it is surrounded by powerhouse neighborhoods that house the biggest tech companies in Los Angeles.
The beachfront property, its position to critical transportation utilities, and its affluent neighbors effectively guarantee that Playa Vista real estate will remain competitive.
It Has High Cash Circulation
Whether it’s beach-goers making their way through the neighborhood for the day or residents settling down for good, Playa Vista draws a crowd.
The high flow of people through Playa Vista corresponds to a better local economy and, therefore, a real estate market primed for investment.
People spend more money dining out at Playa Vista restaurants. The increasing number of high-income earning residents spent their money at local retail and grocery stores. With more people in the area, more businesses are started in the neighborhood to meet the demand.
The high cash flow in the neighborhood trickles down to real estate.
Investment Opportunities In Playa Vista?
- Residential rental properties
- Commercial space
- Flipping properties
Residential Rental Properties
Residential rental properties are a great way to tap into Playa Vista.
Between increasing development and the movement of more people into the neighborhood, Playa Vista’s rental market is becoming stronger by the day.
The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Playa Vista is about $3,000; for a two-bedroom, it’s about $3,700.
Advantages: The primary benefit of rental properties is the high cash flow. Property owners necessarily set a price for the property in the lease that sustains a profit; a high net cash flow is baked into rental property ownership.
As properties become increasingly competitive in Playa Vista, investors have the opportunity to increase rates to meet the rising demand.
Disadvantages: While lucrative, running a rental property can be serious work. Property ownership becomes like a full-time job to effectively manage the property and see maintenance duties and tenant inquiries and issues.
Commercial Real Estate
Like residential rental properties, commercial real estate generally earns an income through collecting rental payments.
Advantages: Playa Vista has a wealth of commercial real estate: office space, restaurants, boutique retail, grocery stores, and more.
Commercial property tenets are businesses. They function to generate an income for themselves by staying profitable. This means that the property owner’s and the lessee’s interests are aligned, earning a payment through the practical usage of the commercial property.
Disadvantages: While commercial properties tend to produce a much safer and more substantial return, they are far more challenging to break into due to higher property values. For many individual investors, the down payment on a commercial property alone makes it an untenable investment option.
House Flipping
Playa Vista is rising, making it a good opportunity for investors to flip houses.
House flipping is a relatively straightforward real estate investment strategy. Investors acquire a house, usually an undervalued home or a fixer-upper, make improvements on the property that increase its value, then sell the property for a capital gain within a relatively short period.
Advantages: In hot markets like Playa Vista, the appreciation of homes within a year can be enough to boost the property value significantly. Within one year, Playa Vista properties’ listing price has increased by 18.3%.
House flipping can be a lot of work. Fixers can demand a lot of time and money to get the investors a worthwhile profit. When everything goes well, it’s an effective strategy that gets relatively short-term returns.
Disadvantages: House flipping can become a financial quagmire if even a few things go wrong. Repairs can be more costly than anticipated, piling on inflating expenses on property management, and keeping the property off the market for extended periods.
Invest With a Firm
Regarding hyper-competitive real estate markets like Playa Vista, the best way for investors to get involved is with a private firm.
Investors don’t need to involve themselves in time-consuming responsibilities like property management, closing on properties, or tenant screening by going through a firm.
Professional real estate agents, like the team at Christina, have the skill set, the resources, and the network investors need to get ahead on the best properties in the market.
Learn more about Christina’s strategy for real estate investing to see why it’s the best real estate firm in Los Angeles county.
The Future of Playa Vista Real Estate
The Silicon Beach phenomenon continues to drive development in the Westside region.
Coastal neighborhoods like Playa Vista can be expected to increase in value as the years go by. The perfect meeting between Los Angeles’s most influential trends is a waterfront location and a high-tech presence.
Los Angeles property has been explosive over the past few years. Getting into this high-value market now is the best way to reap the benefits of a real estate market that is only growing stronger every year.
Invest With the Best
As lucrative as Playa Vista real estate is, it can be tough to break into this expensive market on your own.
When you invest with Christina, you open the door to hyper-prime markets like Playa Vista and beyond.
Get started with us today and secure your portfolio for tomorrow.
Sources:
Playa Vista Demographics | Point2Homes