Apartment buildings in 90405, Santa Monica

What the buildings in 90405 Santa Monica look like.

Most of the apartment stock in 90405 Santa Monica is small. 789 of the 1,377 parcels hold two to four units, the duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes that are often bought by owner users and first-time investors.

The average parcel here holds 6.7 units. 9 parcels hold 50 units or more. The largest ones are listed further down this page, each with its own public record.

How old they are.

Half the apartment parcels in 90405 Santa Monica were built in 1948 or earlier. 1,296 of 1,377, about 94%, went up in 1978 or before.

Across the 255 ZIP codes on this site that share is 89%, so 90405 Santa Monica has a larger share of older buildings than the average. Older buildings tend to carry the questions a buyer will ask about, like plumbing, electrical, the roof and whether the building needs a seismic retrofit.

Rent control in 90405 Santa Monica.

The City of Los Angeles rent ordinance does not cover 90405 Santa Monica. 1,296 of the parcels here were built in 1978 or earlier, and age is usually the first thing a local rent rule looks at.

Santa Monica has its own rent stabilization ordinance, so the city's rules decide how much rent can go up and when a tenant can be asked to leave. Read those before you price a building here.

How long owners hold.

The median Prop 13 base year for apartment parcels in 90405 Santa Monica is 2002. A base year resets when a building sells, so an old one usually means the same owner or the same family has held it a long time.

512 parcels, 37%, still carry a base year of 1995 or earlier. The figure for all 255 ZIP codes here is 28%, so owners in 90405 Santa Monica have held longer than the average.

Long-held buildings often pay property tax on a value set decades ago. When they sell, the new owner is taxed on the price, which is part of why rents and expenses on these buildings need a close look before anyone sets a price.

How often buildings sell.

By last recorded transfer, 84 apartment parcels in 90405 Santa Monica changed hands in 2022, 93 in 2023 and 99 in 2024.

That is 7.2% of the parcels here, against 7.3% across all 255 ZIP codes, so buildings here turned over at about the same rate as the average.

A building that sold twice in those years shows up once, in its later year, and a transfer is not always a sale at market. A move into a trust or between family members is recorded too.