L.A.’s Measure ULA, the so-called ‘Mansion Tax,’ has led to a drop in high-value property sales in Los Angeles, according to new UCLA Luskin research. Michael Manville, professor and chair of urban planning and Shane Phillips, housing initiative project manager at the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, co-authored a Voices piece in the Los Angeles Times about the measure’s impact since voters approved it in 2022. “Our research shows that over the first two years since ULA was implemented, high-value property sales in the city fell by about 50% — a far steeper decline than elsewhere in the county during the same period,” wrote Manville, Phillips and co-author, Jason Ward, co-director of the Rand Center on Housing and Homelessness. They stress the need to reform the measure and offer suggestions such as state legislation they say could reduce ULA’s negative effects while preserving its goal of raising funds to help low-income renters.