Fewer LA Residential Agents Close Deals in April

Many of Los Angeles’ luxury agents were sidelined during the month of April.

Residential agents spent the previous month of March in a sprint to wrap up sales before the April 1 deadline when the city’s Measure ULA transfer tax took effect. Then the luxe market skidded to a near halt in April, when only two sales for homes priced above $5 million were sold in the city.

In April, about 6,400 residential agents were actively counted as closing deals in L.A. County, according to AgentStory, a company that tracks real estate agents and transactions. That represents a 9 percent decline from March, when about 7,100 home agents actively closed deals in the county.

Agent activity surged 35 percent in March, compared to the previous month, February, when about 5,200 residential agents closed deals in L.A. County.

Zooming out, more agents worked in L.A. County during the April slowdown than at the traditionally slow beginning of the year. In January, only 4,900 agents closed deals in L.A. County, according to AgentStory.

Shmuel Tennenhaus, an AgentStory representative, said the increasing number of residential agents working in L.A. County shows growing strength in the housing market, not just its luxury sector.

“Excluding March, April was the best month since October 2022,” Tennenhaus said. “The market is showing somewhat of a recovery. March was an outlier with the tax deadline.”

Other studies have shown increased vitality in the L.A. market. A recent market report from Douglas Elliman found that signed contracts through all price ranges in L.A. County increased 10 percent in a month-to-month comparison. There were 2,233 signed contracts in L.A. County in March, compared to 2,013 in February.

AgentStory does not count all of the agents working in L.A. County, only those who have closed deals. Transactions under contract, but not completed, are not counted by the firm.