LA's Mansion Tax: What Measure ULA Costs on a Luxury Home

On a $25 million sale, the city line is worth about $1.5 million.

What is the Los Angeles "mansion tax"? It is Measure ULA, a Los Angeles transfer tax charged when a property sells. At this year's thresholds, a sale inside the City of Los Angeles over $5.4 million pays 4% of the entire price, and a sale of $10.9 million or more pays 5.5%. That comes on top of the city's regular 0.45% transfer tax and the county's 0.11%. On a $20 million sale, the three together come to about $1.2 million.

The catch is that it only applies inside the City of Los Angeles. Beverly Hills and Malibu are separate cities with no mansion tax, and Santa Monica has its own, with a different threshold. Several of LA's most famous luxury neighborhoods straddle city lines, so the name of the neighborhood does not tell you which tax applies.

Two of our listings show how much that matters. A new modern home on St. Ives Drive in the Hollywood Hills is listed at $24,998,000. A Mediterranean villa off Sunset in Beverly Hills is listed at $24,500,000. If both sold at asking, the Hollywood Hills seller would owe about $1.51 million in transfer taxes. The Beverly Hills seller would owe about $27,000.

Here is how the tax works, where it applies, and what it would cost on eight luxury listings across LA.

Measure ULA rates and thresholds

Los Angeles voters approved Measure ULA in 2022, and it has applied to sales since April 1, 2023. The thresholds are adjusted every year for inflation. For sales closing after June 30, 2026, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder lists these rates:

Three details matter at this price.

It applies to the whole price, not the amount above the threshold. A $12 million sale pays 5.5% on all $12 million, not on the $1.1 million above $10.9 million.

It is measured on the gross price. The City's Office of Finance says the ULA portion is calculated on the full value including any loans the buyer assumes, while the base tax uses the net value.

It applies only inside city limits. For a property that is partly inside the City of Los Angeles, the tax applies in proportion to the value inside the city.

Who pays it is a matter for the purchase contract. In practice, Los Angeles transfer taxes are typically paid by the seller, so the tax mostly shows up as a cost of selling rather than buying.

The cliff at $10.9 million

Because the rate applies to the full price, crossing a threshold by a single dollar moves the entire sale into the higher bracket.

A sale at $10,899,999 pays $436,000 in Measure ULA. A sale at $10,900,000 pays $599,500. One more dollar of price, about $163,500 more in tax. The same thing happens at the lower threshold: a sale at $5.4 million pays no Measure ULA, while a sale just above it pays about $216,000.

That gives sellers near a threshold a strong reason to price just under it, and it means a higher offer can leave the seller with less. After all three transfer taxes, a $10,900,000 sale nets the seller about $163,500 less than a $10,899,999 sale. Because the thresholds move every July, a price that sat safely under the line one year can land on the wrong side of it the next.

Which LA neighborhoods pay the mansion tax

Measure ULA follows city limits, and Los Angeles' luxury neighborhoods do not line up neatly with them.

Santa Monica's version, Measure GS, works differently. The city's transfer tax schedule charges $3 per $1,000 under $5 million, $6 per $1,000 from $5 million to just under $8 million, and $56 per $1,000, or 5.6%, at $8 million and above. Like Measure ULA, the top rate applies to the full price.

The edges are where buyers and sellers get surprised. The hills above the Sunset Strip include both City of Los Angeles and West Hollywood parcels, and parts of the Bel Air area are unincorporated county land. A "Los Angeles" mailing address does not settle it either. Check the parcel's city with the county assessor before you price a sale.

What the mansion tax would cost on eight LA listings

Here is the transfer tax each of these listings would owe if it sold at its current asking price, assuming the buyer takes over no existing loans. The city for each is based on its listing address, so confirm the parcel before relying on any single figure.

Totals include the base city tax and the county's 0.11%. Santa Monica's total is its 5.6% city rate plus the county tax.

Three things stand out.

The Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills listings are the clearest pair. They are priced within $498,000 of each other, and their transfer taxes differ by about $1.49 million. The St. Ives Drive home sits above the Sunset Strip in the City of Los Angeles. The Sunset Boulevard villa sits in the City of Beverly Hills, where no mansion tax applies.

Property

St. Ives Drive Modern

Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CA

A new modern home above Sunset Plaza in the Hollywood Hills, built around a floating infinity pool with views over the city.

View property →

Property

Sunset Boulevard Villa

Beverly Hills, CA

A contemporary Mediterranean villa just off Sunset Boulevard in the City of Beverly Hills.

View property →

Santa Monica is not an escape. At $33 million, the Gold Coast compound pays Santa Monica's 5.6% city rate, which is slightly more than Measure ULA's 5.5%. Its total still comes in about $115,500 below the same sale inside the City of Los Angeles, because the City of LA adds its 0.45% base tax on top of Measure ULA.

Malibu is the cheapest place on this list to sell. Both Malibu listings owe only the county's 0.11%, and that holds whether a parcel is in the City of Malibu or in unincorporated county land nearby, since neither has a mansion tax. On the Anacapa new build at $14,995,000, that is about $16,500. The same price inside the City of Los Angeles would owe about $908,700.

For the full picture of what sits at the top of the market, see the most expensive homes for sale in Los Angeles.

What is on the November ballot

City voters will decide on November 3 whether to exempt some properties damaged or destroyed in the January 2025 Palisades Fire from Measure ULA. The City Council measure, Proposition TE, would create a one-time exemption for qualifying residential sales, lasting until about five years after the fire, according to LAist. It does not change the rates or thresholds for other sales.

A statewide initiative that sought to end the tax was withdrawn earlier this year and will not appear on the ballot, LAist reports. For everyone outside the narrow fire exemption, Measure ULA applies as described above.

[UPDATE AFTER NOV 3: add the Proposition TE result in one sentence, or cut this section to two lines if it fails.]

What to check before you buy or sell

The parcel's city. Not the neighborhood name or the mailing address. Look it up with the county assessor.

Where the price sits against the thresholds. $5.4 million and $10.9 million for sales closing after June 30, 2026. They move every July.

The gross price. Measure ULA counts assumed loans. Budget on the full value.

Who pays. Usually the seller, but the purchase contract decides.

The other cities' rules. Santa Monica, Culver City and others set their own transfer taxes.

Transfer tax is a one-time cost at sale. On a $10 million sale inside the City of Los Angeles, all three come to about $456,000. For contrast, a $10 million home in the City of Dallas owes about $222,700 every year in property tax on a Texas luxury home, where there is no transfer tax at all.

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This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Rates and thresholds change every year, so confirm the details for any specific sale with the county recorder, the city, or a tax professional.