Apartment buildings in Long Beach

What the buildings in Long Beach look like.

Most of the apartment stock in Long Beach is small. 12,227 of the 16,841 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 5.3 units. 85 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 Long Beach were built in 1940 or earlier. 15,775 of 16,841, about 94%, went up in 1978 or before.

Across the 255 ZIP codes on this site that share is 89%, so Long Beach 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 Long Beach.

The City of Los Angeles rent ordinance does not cover Long Beach. 15,775 of the parcels here were built in 1978 or earlier, and age is usually the first thing a local rent rule looks at.

Where a city has no rent rule of its own, the state cap in AB 1482 covers most buildings more than 15 years old. Check with Long Beach before you underwrite a rent roll, because local rules change.

How long owners hold.

The median Prop 13 base year for apartment parcels in Long Beach is 2007. 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.

4,032 parcels, 24%, still carry a base year of 1995 or earlier. The figure for all 255 ZIP codes here is 28%, so owners in Long Beach have held for less time 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, 1,284 apartment parcels in Long Beach changed hands in 2022, 994 in 2023 and 1,329 in 2024.

That is 7.9% 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.