Report: L.A. permits 8,800 homes in the first half of 2026

Residential construction appears to be on the uptick, according to new research from Hilgard Economics.

In the first half of 2026, the City of Los Angeles issued permits for more than 8,800 new homes, according to records reviewed by Hilgard. That represents a nearly threefold improvement relative to the number of housing permits issued in the same period last year. In fact, that total exceeds the roughly 8,700 residential units permitted citywide in all of 2025.

However, any improvement should be taken with a grain of salt, argues the report from Hilgard founder Joshua Baum, which notes that permitting activity in early 2025 was depressed as a result of the January wildfires. Likewise, a portion of the new housing approved in 2026 also represents replacement housing for homes destroyed during the wildfires.

"Even with this year's rebound, housing production remains well below the level needed to meaningfully address Los Angeles County's longstanding housing shortage," writes Baum. "Sustained increases in housing construction across a range of price points will be necessary to improve affordability, accommodate future population and employment growth, and reduce upward pressure on housing costs over the long term."

Hilgard's Regional Pulse report likewise concludes that while Los Angeles County's economy has continued to grow in recent years, that growth is concentrated in private education and health service jobs. The County has in fact lost jobs within the past year in manufacturing, government, information, financial services, trade, and transportation. Notably, FilmLA recorded 4,711 filming days in the second quarter of this year, which is a 12.7 percent drop from the same period in the previous year.

Likewise, an affordability crisis continues to dampen local economic growth, with median rents reaching $2,692 in June and median single-family home prices at $910,370. But while those numbers may be welcome numbers to landlords and homeowners, the outlook is less optimistic for owners of commercial buildings, with the Countywide office vacancy rate now at more than 23 percent, and the vacancy rate in Downtown Los Angeles exceeding 30 percent.

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