What Measure ULA Actually Costs You at $5M, $7M, $10M, and $15M

Measure ULA applies to all property sales within the City of Los Angeles over $5 million, including residential, commercial, and multifamily. The rate is 4% from $5M up to (but not including) $10M, and 5.5% at $10M and above. That tax is on top of the existing 0.45% city transfer tax, not instead of it.

Here is exactly what that costs at four common price points:

Sale Price	ULA Rate	ULA Tax	City Transfer Tax	Total Tax Hit
$5,000,000	4.00%	$200,000	0.45% ($22,500)	$222,500
$7,000,000	4.00%	$280,000	0.45% ($31,500)	$311,500
$10,000,000	5.50%	$550,000	0.45% ($45,000)	$595,000
$15,000,000	5.50%	$825,000	0.45% ($67,500)	$892,500

These numbers are what sellers are paying today. If you are going into a sale without modeling this, you are walking into a negotiation with incomplete information.

Where the Repeal Effort Stands as of June 2026

The direct answer: Measure ULA has not been repealed, and no repeal is imminent.

Legal challenges from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which argued ULA violated Proposition 13 and state law, have not succeeded in overturning the measure. As of mid-2026, California courts have allowed ULA to remain in effect. No ballot measure to repeal it has qualified for the November 2026 ballot.

Politically, the Los Angeles City Council has shown no appetite to eliminate a measure that funds affordable housing programs, particularly in the current political environment. Opposition exists, but it has not translated into a viable repeal path on any confirmed timeline.

Could the landscape shift? Yes. A state appellate ruling, a qualifying ballot initiative, or significant council turnover could change things. But planning a sale around one of those outcomes happening on a specific schedule is not a strategy but a speculation.

The Strategies Sellers Are Actually Using to Work Around It

Owners are not just absorbing the tax and moving on. Here are the approaches that are working right now:

• Pricing net of ULA from day one. The sellers who perform best price their building with the transfer tax already modeled into their net. This prevents late-stage negotiation breakdowns and attracts buyers who have also done the math.
• Entity-level sales. In some cases, selling the LLC or entity that holds the property, rather than the real property itself, can potentially avoid triggering the ULA transfer tax. This requires a clean entity structure, a willing buyer, and careful legal and tax review. It is not a guaranteed workaround, but it is worth evaluating with your attorney before you list.
• Seller financing or structured closings. Some sellers are exploring installment structures that spread proceeds differently. This has both tax and financing implications and requires professional advice specific to your situation.
• Targeting all-cash buyers. All-cash buyers close faster, require fewer contingencies, and are less sensitive to the rate environment. For a ULA-affected building, positioning it toward this buyer profile reduces friction at closing.
• Timing around a potential ballot measure. A small group of owners is holding deliberately and watching the political calendar. This is a defensible choice only if your building is running clean and you have no urgency to redeploy capital.

How Measure ULA Affects Your Buyer Pool and Negotiating Position

Measure ULA does not just cost you money on closing day. It also changes who shows up to buy and how they negotiate.

Leveraged buyers in the $5M to $10M range are under double pressure: rising debt service from interest rates and a 4% ULA hit on top. That combination has pushed a meaningful portion of this buyer segment out of the market or into lower price ranges. The buyers who remain are more disciplined, more contingency-prone, and slower to close.

All-cash buyers are more active in this range than before 2023, and they move faster, but they also underwrite harder. They know they have leverage, and they use it.

The practical result: your effective buyer pool is narrower than it was three years ago, and the active buyers are pricing every deal tightly. This is not a reason to avoid selling. It is a reason to go to market with a clean, well-priced building rather than testing the market at an aspirational number.

Max’s View: Should You Wait for Repeal or Sell Now?

The honest answer is that waiting for repeal is not a strategy for most owners: it is a way to defer a decision.

If your building has deferred maintenance, problem tenants, or rent control pressure limiting NOI growth, the carrying cost of waiting often exceeds the tax itself over 18 to 24 months. If your equity is trapped and you have better uses for the capital, every year you hold is an opportunity cost.

If your building is running clean and cash-flowing well with no operational urgency, holding while monitoring the legal and political landscape is a legitimate position. But be clear about why you are holding, like for operational reasons, not because repeal has a confirmed date.

The sellers I work with who get the best outcomes do one thing consistently: they go into the sale knowing their net number before they list, they price accordingly, and they do not let the tax become a surprise in negotiation. That is the framework I use with every seller I represent.