Encino is the submarket I work out of. Marcus & Millichap's LA office is here. I walk past buildings I have sold, buildings I have underwritten, and buildings I know by address on the way in every day. That proximity shapes a specific observation: the dominant feature across Encino multifamily is tenant tenure. Long holding periods on the ownership side. Long occupancies on the tenant side. Rent rolls that haven't reset for a decade or more. The in-place-to-market gap in Encino is not a talking point. It is the core pricing variable.
A building where most tenants moved in between 2008 and 2015 looks different on paper than a building with the same nominal unit mix and turnover in the last three years. Allowable annual rent increases under LA City RSO, even before the 2026 rewrite, did not keep pace with market rent growth in Encino. The gap widened. It keeps widening. For the seller, two practical consequences. First, the rent roll is the story — buyers underwriting a long-tenure Encino building look at tenancy dates before they look at anything else. Second, the 2026 RSO rewrite compounds the problem. Lower allowable increases, eliminated utility and dependent-occupant bumps, tighter floor and ceiling. The path to closing the gap through the formula alone is effectively gone.
Encino is LA City. Pre-1978 buildings are RSO-covered. The December 2025 rewrite takes effect July 1, 2026. Post-1995 construction is Costa-Hawkins exempt and not affected. Encino has a meaningful share of 1960s and 1970s courtyard inventory — the exact profile most exposed to the rewrite.
Despite the rewrite pressure, Encino does not become a buyer's-market moonscape in 2026. The demand case is intact. Ventura Boulevard is one of the strongest commercial spines in the Valley. Professional-class renters continue to move in. School access, particularly for the residential pocket south of the 101, sustains long-term family demand. Healthcare, professional services, entertainment-adjacent employment — the underlying rental economy is durable. Buyers are not pricing Encino as though demand is leaving. They are pricing it as though the NOI growth path ahead is slower than it was behind. Those are different statements.
Institutional and private equity on larger assets, selectively, and with tighter screens than two years ago. 1031 exchangers looking for Valley reinvestment. Local operators and family offices, often off-market, on smaller buildings — this segment is consistent and close to the ground. On smaller buildings the family-office and local-operator segment is often the cleanest buyer path. They close without theater. They do not spend two months on re-trading. The transaction cost savings often outweigh what a slightly-higher listed offer from a less-certain institutional pool would have produced.
The gap between a well-prepared Encino building and a poorly-prepared one is wider in 2026 than in any year I have transacted in this submarket. RSO registration and filings current. Tenancy documentation clean and organized. Operating statements that reconcile to tax returns. Permits for any capital work in the last ten years. AB 1482 compliance documented where applicable. Any gap in the above, and the buyer underwriting discounts for the gap. On Encino pre-1978 inventory in 2026, the preparation is the sale price.
Request a free evaluation of your Encino building →
Michael Sterman will walk through comparables, buyer pool, and timing specific to your building — no obligation, no pitch.
Request Free Evaluation →Thinking about selling? Get a no-obligation evaluation on your building.
Request Free Evaluation →