The Los Angeles City Council has voted to refer proposed amendments to Measure ULA, the city’s so-called “mansion tax,” to the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee for a hearing and more public input, NAIOP SoCal reported. Councilmember Nithya Raman’s motion to amend Measure ULA, which took effect in 2023, included a 15-year exemption to the tax for new commercial, multifamily and mixed-use construction. The referral to committee “punts” the proposal, which Raman had hoped to secure an immediate vote on, reported Bloomberg News.

Raman’s measure also included a one-time exemption for Palisades fire victims and technical fixes to speed deployment of funds, and she also acknowledged ULA’s damaging impact on development activity and permitting, according to NAIOP SoCal. Her goal is to put the measure on the November 2026 ballot. An attempt to fast-track the measure onto the June ballot was unsuccessful, Bloomberg News reported. 

“The proposed 15-year exemption (tied to certificate of occupancy) could materially reduce ULA exposure on transfers of qualifying new commercial, multifamily and mixed-use projects during that window, depending on final definitions,” NAIOP SoCal reported. “In addition, the exemption could help restore financing certainty, and unlock development and reinvestment that has slowed under the current ULA structure.” 

LA Business First reported that Measure ULA, which imposes a 4% transfer tax on property sales greater than $5.3 million and a 5% tax on sales above $10.6 million, has raised $1 billion across more than 1,400 transactions since it took effect. Joe Donlin, director of the United to House LA coalition, told LA Business First that Measure ULA is “an economic engine for the city.” 

However, developers and investors have called for its repeal, arguing that the measure has had a chilling effect. CalMatters cited a report by researchers at UCLA and the Rand Institute which estimated that the measure has resulted in 1,910 fewer apartments per year, including 168 fewer affordable units.  

“Another study by researchers at Harvard, UC Irvine and UC San Diego found that property tax collections fell steeply as a result of the dramatic slowdown in sales, offsetting an estimated 63% of the collected transfer tax revenue, if not significantly more,” CalMatters reported.   

NAIOP SoCal said it will engage directly with Housing and Homelessness Committee Chair Raman, and Committee members Tim McCosker, Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt and Vice Chair Ysabel Jurado. The association will also participate in the committee process “by preparing public comment and policy recommendations aligned with the interests of our membership.” It called on members to provide examples of transactions or project economics that have been affected by Measure ULA.