Half of Post-Fire Altadena Home Sales Were to Corporations

Corporations are quietly buying up fire-ravaged properties in Altadena, California, where January’s Eaton Fire claimed over 6,000 homes, according to an article by Yoonj Kim in Dwell.

Of the nearly 150 homes that have sold since the fire, Kim found that at least half were bought by corporate entities. “This on its own isn’t inherently alarming, as individuals can purchase property through LLCs to limit legal exposure. But it is a rate that far exceeds the national average, where corporate buyers account for roughly 23 percent of single-family home sales.” However, Kim notes that “the concentration of ownership points to a pattern of land consolidation that warrants attention—particularly in a community still recovering from disaster.”

Kim details the top corporate buyers of Altadena properties, which include Black Lion Properties, LLC, a newly formed company that has purchased almost exclusively post-fire Altadena properties, and Ocean Development Inc., which currently develops affordable housing in South LA. Other buyers are more concerning, such as Virtua Capital Management, which “was the subject of an SEC proceeding for failing to disclose conflicts of interest and double-dipping on real estate deals they weren’t supposed to profit from.”

Kim notes that institutional investment in housing is growing around the country. “This trend is associated with declining homeownership rates and rising rents, particularly in working-class or destabilized areas. Wall Street and private equity have increasingly targeted working-class neighborhoods, often after moments of destabilization.”

The companies named in the article did not reply to requests for comment or did not have publicly available contact information. “In the end, the lack of response echoed the larger pattern—underscoring the secrecy surrounding these acquisitions, and the walls that often go up when trying to follow the money.”