Investors routinely turn to real estate for rock-solid assets that protect their investments.
There are a few places to search for premium real estate other than Los Angeles. High-potential neighborhoods like Westwood have the kinds of real estate to protect your portfolio.
Why Should You Choose Westwood?
The economy is growing increasingly dire. Rising inflation and threats of recession are throwing markets into chaos. Investing in premium, high-potential new construction and homes for sale in neighborhoods like Westwood in Los Angeles can provide the assets you need to endure economic hardship.
Let’s explore what makes Westwood a solid real estate investment opportunity market during this turbulent time.
Where Is Westwood?
Westwood is located in the Los Angeles Westside region, an unofficial grouping of neighborhoods beginning just west of the 405 and north of the 10 and extending out to the coast.
Westwood is located in the northern part of the Westside. Its borders start in the east along the Los Angeles Country Club.
The neighborhood’s northern border follows along Sunset Blvd until it reaches its western edge: the 405. The 2, or Santa Monica Blvd constitutes the southern boundary of this 11.12 square mile neighborhood — decently sized for a Los Angeles neighborhood.
Adjoining neighborhoods to Westwood include some of the most iconic in Los Angeles: Holmby Hills, Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, and West LA share a direct border with Westwood. Shortly beyond are Santa Monica and Venice to its west and Culver City to its south.
What Should You Know About Westwood?
Understanding the potential of a real estate market depends on the scope of your familiarity with the neighborhood’s defining features. Learning pertinent statistics that reveal the character of Westwood can strongly indicate where the market is heading.
Here are a few key statistics about Westwood’s robust real estate market.
Population
Westwood is home to over 50,000 people, making it one of the Westside’s larger neighborhoods in size and population. The population is growing steadily; the year-over-year change in Westwood’s population has increased by about 1 percent.
The median age in Westwood is about 23, definitively placing Westwood on the younger side compared to its westside peers. While there are undoubtedly multi-family homes, the accessibility to younger demographics accounts for much of the new listings and Westwood homes for sale today.
Just over 50 percent of Westwood residents lived in the same house as last year, a surprisingly small percentage by Los Angeles standards.
Of the new additions to the neighborhood, most came from the same county: 27 percent, while 10 percent of new residents are from California locations outside the city. The remaining new folks are evenly split between out-of-staters and folks from abroad.
Income
Westwood is well-off compared to other Los Angeles neighborhoods. The average annual income in the area is $104,353. Westwood’s wealthiest residents are 45 to 64-year-olds whose median income is just under $100,000 annually.
Over 65-year-olds are the next wealthiest age bracket earning a median of $85,000 a year, followed by 25 to 44-year-olds with a median annual income of over $70,000 yearly.
Under 25-year-olds earn around $15,000, strikingly little compared to other age brackets in the neighborhood and lower than similarly aged people across the city.
However, this age bracket’s relatively lower income levels are due to the overrepresentation of students in Westwood due to the presence of colleges in the neighborhood.
Employment
The overwhelming majority of Westwood residents work in white-collar positions — 96 percent. The remaining 4 percent of residents do blue-collar work.
Most white-collar residents work in the private sector, at about 50 percent. Government workers make up a quarter of residents; self-employed entrepreneurs are 16 percent; non-profit workers are 9 percent of the Westwood workforce.
The presence of university networks and medical facilities in Westwood accounts for the substantial number of government workers. Overall, the neighborhood is home to a robust cohort of high-income earning professionals in stable jobs, an ideal demographic for a reliable real estate market.
Housing
Westwood has just over 20,000 units; nearly four-fifths are currently occupied.
The majority of Westwood residents rent — 68 percent of them. The remaining 32 percent of residents own the home they occupy. Properties that have a mortgage account constitute 59 percent of Westwood units.
Most Westwood units were built in the 1970s, followed by the 1960s and the 1980s. After the 80s, development in Westwood dropped precipitously. Only 1,500 units were built in the 1990s, less than half of the growth in the 1980s.
Renting is a vital component of the Westwood housing ecosystem. With mostly older units making up the pool of teams and development nowhere near where it was a half-century ago, property in Westwood can quickly get competitive and lucrative when hitting the market.
Why Do People Move to Westwood?
The Westside as a whole is a prominent location that epitomizes the allure of Los Angeles and the West Coast.
Westwood is located under the Santa Monica mountains, only a few miles from the beachfront along the coast. Its central location between its neighbors means that Westwood benefits from the amenities its Westside peers offer.
Residents are equidistant from the hiking available in Hollywood Hills, the nightlife bustle of West Hollywood, and the vibrant boardwalks of Santa Monica. With arterial highways readily accessible in the neighborhood, residents can quickly interface with the rest of the city on short notice.
Why Is Westwood Such A Good Location?
People moving to Los Angeles want the classic LA experience offered by neighborhoods like Westwood. Even Los Angelenos move to Westwood; this neighborhood represents the California dream.
Westwood’s prime location continues to sustain its real estate market. The enduring attraction of the neighborhood ensures that property remains valuable, making an asset’s value here equally endurable.
What Is Silicon Beach and How Does It Influence Westwood?
Silicon Beach describes the developing reputation of the Westside as an international tech hub.
The name borrows from Silicon Valley in northern California, once the undisputed world capital in tech. Silicon Valley’s unrivaled status as the center of tech began to unravel in the early 2010s when Google built its largest campus outside the Bay Area in Santa Monica.
A single blue-chip tech company can transform an entire city’s economic ecosystem; the Westside has hundreds and counting.
Property values rise as high-income earning tech employees compete for real estate; office space skyrockets as companies clamber for a location immersed in the tech scene.
Since the early 2010s, Silicon Beach’s impact on the Westside has been transformational. From its epicenter in Santa Monica, the presence of high market cap tech companies and startups is felt throughout Westside, including Westwood.
How Does the Tech Presence Grow Westwood?
As Silicon Beach expands into the larger Westside region, Westwood real estate is primed to benefit from tech presence. Already Westwood has a strong relationship with the growing tech presence’s affiliation with the local UCLA campus.
Investing in Westwood property relies on the enduring presence of tech in the world economy — a virtual guarantee.
How Do Hospitals and Universities Benefit Westwood Real Estate?
Westwood is home to the UCLA campus and the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center — a prominent health center for the city.
Almost 50,000 students attend UCLA; its medical center employs a vast staff of high-income professionals. The presence of the university and the medical facility guarantees the neighborhood real estate market remains strong.
The sheer volume of students is a driving force behind the high number of renters in Westwood. Students are moving off-campus to rent apartments for the remainder of their enrollment.
With a continuous influx of students moving in and out, renting a Westwood unit will likely go without vacancy.
The medical facility bolsters the real estate market by sustaining a community of high-income earning professionals.
As nurses, administrators, and doctors settle down in the area, Westwood property becomes highly valuable. More affluent medical professionals are willing to pay more for a shorter commute to the hospital.
Due to the perennial influx of student renters and high-income medical professionals looking for residences close to work, the Westwood real market has stability. The success of the UCLA university system ensures that the real estate market in Westwood remains strong.
Investing in Westwood property is a safe, stable decision.
How To Invest in Westwood Real Estate?
Rental Properties
Investing in a Westwood rental property is a sound decision. Westwood has a robust rental market.
Rental properties provide investors with several benefits:
- They are an effective hedge against rising inflation.
- They have a high cash flow.
- Rental properties give investors many tax break opportunities.
While rental properties can be a lot of work, they are a common way for investors to get into real estate and a great way to invest in Westwood real estate.
House Flipping
House flipping has become a popular means to get a comparatively short-term return on real estate.
The process is pretty straightforward on paper:
- Acquire a property.
- Make value-adding repairs and additions.
- Sell the property for a profit.
Since most residential property in Westwood is from the 80s and before, house flipping may be a viable investment strategy here.
Flipping houses can be risky. When all goes to plan, this strategy can net investors a quick, effective return; if not, investors may be stuck with a money pit hindering their finances.
Invest With a Private Equity Fund
The simplest and most effective way to invest in high-value real estate is with a private equity fund. Private equity funds have the resources, expertise, and capability to acquire high-value properties and manage them.
Real estate investing is time-consuming as it is expensive. Investing with a professional fund puts your money in the hands of seasoned professionals better equipped to get you the best possible return.
Invest With the Best
Christina’s real estate professionals have the capital, skill set, and resources to connect your portfolio with LA’s most high-value properties. Christina has thrived in the Los Angelesreal estate market for over four decades, through every tumult and triumph the economy has gone through.
Get started with us today and protect your portfolio with premium real estate assets from economic uncertainties.
Sources:
Westwood Demographics | Point2Homes