Beverly Hills sellers owe nothing under Los Angeles's Measure ULA transfer tax. Three years after the levy took effect, that exemption positions the city favorably as the tax reshapes luxury real estate decisions across the rest of LA County.

Measure ULA charges sellers a 4% tax on City of Los Angeles property sales between $5.3 million and $10.6 million, and 5.5% on sales above $10.6 million. On a $15 million home, that's $825,000 the seller must hand over at closing. Beverly Hills, as an independent municipality, falls entirely outside the tax's jurisdiction.

The result: luxury homeowners inside LA city limits are increasingly choosing to renovate rather than sell. Remodel permits for high-priced homes in the City of Los Angeles jumped 46% in the two years after ULA took effect compared to pre-pandemic 2018–2019 levels, according to Attom Data Solutions data analyzed by UCLA Anderson PhD candidate Yingru Pan. The study used the pre-pandemic baseline to exclude pandemic-era permit surges as an outlier period. There was no statistically significant change for mid-priced homes.

"The mansion tax appears to have reshaped the strategies of luxury homeowners, incentivizing them to retain and upgrade existing properties rather than sell," Pan wrote in her study, published in February 2026.

Emil Hartoonian, managing partner of The Agency's Calabasas and Sherman Oaks offices, told The Real Deal on Saturday, July 26, that the tax has become central to nearly every conversation he has with clients about timing, pricing, and whether a sale makes financial sense. In his experience, some owners delay selling while others conclude that sinking years and money into a renovation carries even greater uncertainty.

Hartoonian also noted a pricing disconnect: buyers generally refuse to pay more simply because a seller faces a large ULA bill, which further discourages transactions in affected areas.

Builders feel the shift

Oren Levy, founder of luxury homebuilder Gesh Group, said ULA has completely flipped his business mix. Before the tax, Gesh Group's projects were 80% new development and 20% remodels. That split has shifted significantly to roughly 60% remodeling and 40% new builds, according to The Real Deal's July 26 report. Gesh Group's high-end remodels typically cost between $1 million and $6 million for homes in Sherman Oaks, Encino, Bel Air, and Brentwood.

In one Brentwood case Levy cited, homeowners calculated that ULA plus broker commissions would consume about 11% of their sale proceeds. They chose to reinvest in their existing home instead.

The tax hasn't frozen the broader market. A Hancock Park mansion at 344 South Hudson Avenue closed Saturday, July 25, at its full $16.5 million asking price, and 23 signed luxury contracts across LA County totaled $150.3 million in asking volume for the week, up about 15% from the same period a year earlier, according to the Eklund Gomes team's weekly luxury market report.

What's ahead

A statewide ballot measure that would have eliminated ULA was pulled in a Sacramento deal in late June 2026, leaving the tax intact. The LA City Council is evaluating two targeted reforms for the November 2026 ballot: one exempting newly built apartment buildings for their first 10 years, and another exempting Palisades Fire victims who sell damaged properties. Neither has received a formal council vote to qualify for the ballot.

No public data yet isolates whether Beverly Hills has gained listings or price premiums specifically because of ULA. But the distinction grows more conspicuous each year: Beverly Hills sellers face zero ULA liability, while those a few blocks away in the City of Los Angeles absorb six- and seven-figure tax bills on comparable properties.