Looking for a Santa Monica multifamily broker? Michael Sterman, Senior Managing Director Investments at Marcus & Millichap and founder of the Sterman Multifamily Group, has closed $1.46B across 259 Los Angeles apartment building transactions over 14 years — including 8 in Santa Monica alone. If you own an apartment building in Santa Monica and are weighing a sale, this is the team that prices it against Santa Monica's real buyer pool and rules — not a generic LA average.
Santa Monica has its own Rent Control Board, its own ordinance, its own allowable rent increase schedule, and its own just-cause eviction rules. LA City RSO does not apply. AB 1482 applies only to the limited inventory not covered by Santa Monica's own ordinance. The July 2026 LA City RSO rewrite does not affect Santa Monica buildings at all. That insulation from LA City's regulatory changes is one of the reasons Santa Monica pricing has been among the most stable in the state through 2023-2025. Buyers underwrite Santa Monica against Santa Monica's rules, not against LA's. The trade-off: Santa Monica's own rent control regime has historically been one of the most restrictive in the state. Most pre-1979 Santa Monica buildings are covered. Allowable rent increases are set annually by the Rent Control Board. Tenant protections are strong. Just cause requirements are explicit.
Price per unit runs $450,000 to $650,000 on stabilized inventory as of Q1 2026 — among the highest in LA. Days on market 75 to 120 on clean deals. Two notes on the current market.
Luxury Class A (4-5 star newer post-1995 inventory) is carrying elevated vacancy. Roughly 13% vacancy on the top-tier product, which has pulled asking rents flat and compressed effective rents. The supply delivered during the 2021-2023 development cycle has absorbed more slowly than projected.
Stabilized Class B and C inventory continues to clear. The broader Santa Monica demand story is intact. Rents per unit remain among the highest in LA. Institutional capital treats Santa Monica as a core hold.
Value in Santa Monica turns on vintage, rent-control status, your in-place rents versus market, and which buyer pool fits your building — not a single neighborhood average. Michael underwrites your specific Santa Monica building the way a real buyer will, then tells you what it should bring and how to get there. No obligation.
Request a Free Santa Monica Building Evaluation →Institutional capital dominates. PE funds, REIT-adjacent buyers, and large family offices with Westside portfolios are the deepest bidders on stabilized Class A and B. They pay up because they have patient capital and believe in the submarket's long-term demographics.
1031 exchangers from across California target Santa Monica as a premium reinvestment destination. They pay strong pricing, especially for clean stabilized inventory.
High-net-worth private buyers and family offices also acquire here, often off-market. Santa Monica has a deep community of families whose wealth is tied to local real estate going back 40+ years.
A sample of Santa Monica apartment buildings Michael Sterman has closed. Each links to the full deal record.
Fast: current Rent Control Board registration, documented just-cause history, clean estoppels, operating statements matching tax returns, capital improvements documented, seismic retrofit complete. Slow: registration gaps with the Rent Control Board, undocumented rent increases, contested eviction history visible in Board records, or ambiguous tenant status on long-term occupancies. The Rent Control Board's records are public and buyers' counsel will pull them. Surprises found in those records during due diligence become price concessions.
Michael Sterman has spent 14 years specializing exclusively in Los Angeles multifamily, closing 259 transactions worth $1.46B. He knows how Santa Monica buildings are valued, who buys them, and what it takes to get a clean deal closed here. CA DRE License #01911703.
Michael sells across all of Los Angeles — see the citywide multifamily broker overview for the full closed record and median price per unit in every submarket, or read how much your LA apartment building is worth for how a Santa Monica building actually gets valued.
Thinking about selling? Get a no-obligation evaluation on your building.
Request Free Evaluation →