The Print: 3 LA deeds and their permits miss by up to $20.9M

California deeds never state a sale price. What they carry is the documentary transfer tax, the county rate of $1.10 per $1,000 of value, plus the city tax and Measure ULA inside the city of Los Angeles. Back out that math and a price is implied. Pull the building permit filed on the same parcel and a second number appears, what the city was told the construction itself is worth. On three parcels this week, those two numbers do not agree, in both directions.

Why it matters

A developer or appraiser reading a deed alone is reading half the record. The gap between what a transfer tax implies a parcel changed hands for and what a permit says is being built on it is a working signal of where the money actually sits, in the dirt or in the structure. When the implied price runs far above the permit value, the land or the existing improvement is carrying most of the basis. When the permit runs far above the implied price, the buyer picked up cheap dirt and the real spend is still ahead, on the construction.

The numbers

At 3424 Wilshire Blvd in Mid-Wilshire, the April 22, 2026 deed (document 0284106, parcel 5094006015) implies a price of $21.0 million. The issued LADBS permit on that parcel, 24016-10000-13194, declares $15.0 million for a change of use from an existing 13-story commercial office building to joint living and work quarters. Implied price runs $6.0 million above the permit.

At 5645 Fernwood Ave, a Dec. 15, 2025 deed (document 0908547, parcel 5544030008) implies $36.6 million. The issued permit, 23010-10003-04123, declares $15.75 million, filed as an early-start foundation-only permit for a new 35-story apartment building, meaning the full construction valuation has not yet been filed. Implied price runs $20.85 million above the permit on record today.

At 7143 Tampa Ave in the San Fernando Valley, a Sept. 25, 2025 deed (document 0660297, parcel 2130028009) on vacant land implies $9.25 million. The issued permit, 25010-10000-00891, declares $26.0 million. Here the permit runs $16.75 million above the implied price, the cheap-dirt pattern.

What’s next

Three parcels is not a market trend, and this edition is not calling one. It is a method: read the deed’s implied price and the parcel’s permit valuation together, not apart, before pricing a comparable in Los Angeles. The Fernwood foundation-only permit in particular is worth re-checking once the full building valuation is filed, since an early-start permit by definition understates what the project will eventually declare.