In 2025, El Segundo issued building permits for 36 homes. Twenty-five were accessory dwelling units, and the other 11 were detached single-family houses. By year end, two of those houses were finished. In the same stretch of 2026, a single company opened a headquarters in Smoky Hollow with room for more than 450 employees.
The gap between those two numbers explains El Segundo's housing market better than any median price. Workers arrive by the building. New homes arrive one lot at a time, and most of them are second units behind houses that are already there. The projects that could add hundreds of apartments and a few condominiums are approved, pending, or incomplete. None is under construction. For a buyer comparing El Segundo with nearby South Bay cities, this means thin for-sale inventory is a built-in feature of the city, not a seasonal swing that a slower quarter will fix.
What 2025 Actually Added
The city's 2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report is the most direct look at what gets built. Its structure-type table is short, because most categories are zero.
| Structure type, 2025 | Entitled | Permitted | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-family detached | 6 | 11 | 2 |
| Single-family attached | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 to 4 units per structure | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5+ units per structure | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Accessory dwelling unit | 0 | 25 | 9 |
| Total | 6 | 36 | 11 |
The zeros matter most. In 2025, El Segundo permitted no townhomes, no duplexes or fourplexes, and no apartment or condominium buildings. Of the 11 homes completed that year, nine were ADUs.
An ADU is a real home for whoever lives in it. But it goes up on a lot that already has a house, so it doesn't add a separate house or condo to the for-sale count the way a new building or subdivision would. Most of El Segundo's growth in housing units comes from adding a second home to a lot that already has one.
The Six-Year Pattern Is the Same Pattern
You could write off one year as a fluke. The city's progress toward its Regional Housing Needs Allocation shows the same thing every year since 2021. El Segundo's allocation for the current cycle is 492 units. Through the end of 2025, it had permitted 122.
- Projection period, mid-2021: 5 units
- 2021: 1 unit
- 2022: 30 units
- 2023: 22 units
- 2024: 28 units
- 2025: 36 units
Every one of those 122 units falls in the above-moderate income category. The city's allocation for that category is 131, so only 9 remain. The very low, low, and moderate categories, which account for 361 of the 492 units in the allocation, have no units permitted so far. In RHNA reporting terms, the 370 units still outstanding are almost entirely the kind of housing that usually comes from multifamily buildings, and El Segundo hasn't permitted any of those this cycle.
The zoning is in place. The city completed its required rezoning on May 7, 2024, and the state certified its Housing Element on July 15, 2024. Staff presented the 2025 progress report on March 3, 2026, while still carrying out the element's programs. The planning period runs through October 15, 2029. Nothing on paper prevents multifamily construction. It just hasn't happened yet.
Meanwhile, the Jobs Arrive by the Building
The employer side of the city works at a completely different scale. Three projects from the past few months show it.
CHAOS Industries opened a 100,000-square-foot global headquarters on Oregon Street in Smoky Hollow. It has 400 workstations, about 30 conference rooms, and room for more than 450 employees. CEO John Tenet said the site brings the company's engineering and administrative teams together under one roof.
Innocean USA leased 100,000 square feet at 888 Douglas St. for its U.S. headquarters and production facility. As the Los Angeles Times reported in August, the agency expects to bring its roughly 600-person workforce together there by summer 2027. CEO Steve Jun said the company needed space that "reflects where we're headed."
The Los Angeles Sparks' $150 million headquarters and practice facility at 2021 Rosecrans Ave. topped out in August. The city's August 31 update puts it at about 64,000 square feet, up from the 55,000 originally planned, with opening scheduled for 2027.
Two of those buildings alone account for more than 1,000 workstations and staff positions. Not every one of those employees will look for a home in El Segundo, and nothing here suggests they will. The point is the scale. One commercial lease can add more daily occupants than the city's entire 2025 housing permit count multiplied many times over. Commercial space in El Segundo gets built in 100,000-square-foot pieces. Homes get added one backyard at a time.
The Pipeline, Stage by Stage
The city's planning pages list the residential projects that could change this picture. Ordered from furthest along to least, they look like this:
- Pacific Coast Commons. City Council approved it on March 15 and April 19, 2022. The plan includes 257 apartments and six townhome condominiums, 32 of them affordable, plus 825 parking spaces in three structures along Pacific Coast Highway between Holly Avenue and Palm Avenue. PCC-South would be a six-story building with 120 apartments, and PCC-North a six-story building with 137 apartments plus the six townhomes on a separate lot. The city's project page says the developer has not started construction.
- 201–209 Richmond Street. A downtown project with six dwelling units, approved July 10, 2025. The city listing shows construction plans still under review, pending building permits.
- 703 N. Pacific Coast Highway. A proposed eight-level mixed-use building with 79 rental apartments. The application has been submitted.
- Grand & Kansas. A 276-apartment project on 3.617 acres. The city lists the application as incomplete, with an environmental impact report being prepared. In February 2025, Urbanize LA described an earlier 323-unit version expected to start construction in 2026. The city's current listing replaces that timeline.
- 455 Main Street. A proposed four-story mixed-use condominium building with five commercial units and four two-bedroom homes on the third floor, listed as incomplete and awaiting resubmittal.
Together that comes to roughly 628 homes, about five times what the city has permitted since 2021. But none of it is under construction according to the city's listings. Nearly all of it is apartments. The city's listings identify ten units as condominiums. Six are the townhomes at Pacific Coast Commons, which is approved but not started, and four are the 455 Main Street homes, whose application is incomplete.
What This Means When You Are Comparing Cities
A buyer looking at El Segundo is competing for a for-sale supply that grows by a handful of detached houses a year. The pipeline does add capacity, but almost all of it is rental. When you weigh El Segundo against Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, or Westchester, the useful question isn't whether more inventory is coming. It's what kind is coming. Based on the city's own records, new attached ownership housing in El Segundo is mostly hypothetical for now.
That puts more weight on the lot under any house you're considering. The City of El Segundo allows ADUs by right in zones that permit residential use, and it offers permit-ready ADU plans meant to simplify design and permitting. In 2025, homeowners using that path produced more than twice as many permitted homes as new detached construction did. When you tour a house, the backyard is part of how El Segundo's housing stock grows, and it deserves the same attention you give the kitchen.
For sellers, the same records explain why a well-presented detached home in El Segundo faces little new-construction competition. In 2025, the city completed two new detached houses.
A Few Direct Questions
Do ADUs count toward El Segundo's housing totals? Yes. In the 2025 progress report, they make up 25 of the 36 permitted units and 9 of the 11 completed units.
Is Pacific Coast Commons under construction? The city's approved-projects page says the developer has not started construction. The page isn't dated, so check the city's project listing for the latest status before relying on it.
When does the current housing cycle end? The 6th Cycle planning period runs from October 15, 2021, to October 15, 2029.
When do the new headquarters fill up? CHAOS Industries opened in September 2026. Innocean expects to finish moving in by summer 2027, and the Sparks facility is scheduled to open in 2027.
If you're weighing an El Segundo home and want to know what a specific lot can support, from ADU potential to how it lines up against the few detached homes that actually come to market, Tim Meza can walk you through it parcel by parcel. Schedule a Consultation, and we'll begin with the city's own records.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
