For generations, the homes on the eastern side of Sunset Park sold at a discount because of the airport. Small planes climbing out of Santa Monica Airport ran the same line over the same rooftops, and cause the houses closest to the runway to have a lower value because of it. However, Under a 2017 agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration, the airport closes for good on December 31, 2028, and will now become a park. If you are searching for Sunset Park real estate right now, you are looking at the best possible window to invest.
The airport is closing at the end of 2028
Santa Monica Airport is scheduled to cease operations at the end of 2028 under that 2017 FAA consent decree, and the City reaffirmed the end-of-2028 closure in September 2025. What follows is set by the voters. Under Measure LC, approved in 2014, no new development can go on the airport land without a public vote, with one exception written into the measure itself: parks, public open space, and public recreational facilities.
On July 8, 2025, the City Council voted 6-1 to move forward with a park, and no housing, on the site, precisely because a park needs no Measure LC ballot while housing would trigger one. In early 2026 the city released a draft framework organizing the land into eight connected zones: Immersive Nature, Active Sports, Arts and Culture, Urban Edge, The Stroll, The Lawn, The Meadow, and The Heart. For scale, the plan covers roughly 192 acres of the airport property, one of the largest new urban parks Los Angeles County has planned in a generation, and it sits directly on Sunset Park's doorstep.
What the Great Park does to Sunset Park home values
Homes on the east edge back up to aircraft noise today. Once the park opens, they back up to green space, trails, and playing fields. That reversal is the whole value story, and buyers who move before it is obvious are the ones who tend to capture it.
There is real research behind that intuition, and it is worth being precise about. A 2024 study of large urban parks found that homes near sizable, well-designed parks sold for roughly 8 to 10 percent more, while smaller neighborhood parks showed no measurable premium at all. However, Another 2024 study found that homes pressed right up against a park can sell at a slight discount, when adjacency brings crowds and traffic instead of calm. So the upside here is a well-supported expectation about a large, well-designed park, not a guaranteed number, which is why it is still available at today's prices.
A note on today's prices, as of the trailing three months ending June 2026, Redfin put the Sunset Park median at about $1.6 million, down roughly 43 percent year over year across 29 recorded sales. Do not read that drop as a bad sign however. Over the same window the average sale price was actually up about 9 percent, which tells you the two figures are tracking the mix of what sold, not a market shift.
The demand underneath is strong. Redfin scores Sunset Park an 81 out of 100, and homes are still selling at about 102 percent of list. The median will keep bouncing month to month. The competition for the good listings has not.
The schools underpinning Sunset Park home values
Underneath the airport story is a quieter, more durable value driver, which is the school district. Sunset Park sits inside the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, where Grant Elementary feeds John Adams Middle School, a science magnet, and on to Santa Monica High. Those campuses and Clover Park all sit inside the neighborhood, which is a big part of why families pay to be here.
That catch is the hard line between Sunset Park and neighboring Mar Vista, which looks similar on paper, with comparable bungalows and comparable prices, but falls in the Los Angeles Unified district across the city line. For a lot of buyers, that line is the whole reason they pay the Santa Monica premium. The park does not change that. It adds to it.
Which Sunset Park streets stand to gain the most value
Sunset Park breaks into three tiers.
- Interior core (the quiet streets around Pearl and Ocean Park Boulevard): the steady-value tier, with the neighborhood's stronger prices resting on catchment, lot size, and walkability to the Pico corridor and its Trader Joe's.
- Pico edge (up against the busier northern end): the pragmatic buy, carrying more multifamily and rental stock and a lower entry point.
- Airport edge: the speculative tier, and the interesting one. These are the homes carrying the old noise penalty today, and the most direct beneficiaries of the conversion to parkland. If you believe the park gets built roughly on schedule, this is where the reversal is largest, and it is worth watching what comes on the market along that edge.
The counterpoint worth knowing
We do not sell the Westside on hype, so a few caveats are worth stating plainly. Large park projects run on long timelines, and a framework in 2026 is not a finished park. The eight zones you see today are a plan, not a ribbon-cutting.
The politics are not fully settled either. Housing advocates are pushing for affordable units on the site, and local commentators have questioned whether the ambitions fit the acreage. Anyone buying the airport thesis is buying a well-supported expectation, not a guarantee.
For most buyers, though, the calculus is straightforward. Sunset Park already pairs strong schools and real space with a discount to the beach blocks. Adding one of the largest new parks in the region to that list only strengthens the case.
Thinking about buying in Sunset Park?
The window right now is the window worth acting in. If you want a street-by-street read on where the value is today, and where it is likely to move as the airport begins to shut down, reach out to our team. We will take you through current listings in the area and give you an honest take on which tier of Sunset Park fits you best.
- City of Santa Monica: Santa Monica Airport Will Close Forever on December 31, 2028. https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2017/01/28/santa-monica-airport-will-close-forever-on-december-31-2028
- FAA: Santa Monica Airport Settlement Agreement. https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_compliance/santa_monica_settlement
- City of Santa Monica: City Reaffirms Santa Monica Airport Closure at End of 2028 (Sept 2025). https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2025/09/26/city-reaffirms-santa-monica-airport-closure-at-end-of-2028
- City of Santa Monica: Measure LC (2014). https://www.santamonica.gov/media/Document Library/Project/Future of Santa Monica Airport Project/Measure LC.pdf
- Santa Monica Mirror: Council Votes in Support of Park-Centric Future at Airport Site (July 8, 2025). https://smmirror.com/2025/07/santa-monica-council-votes-in-support-of-park-centric-future-at-airport-site/
- Westside Current: Santa Monica Unveils New Draft Layout for Future Airport Park. https://www.westsidecurrent.com/santa_monica/santa-monica-unveils-new-draft-layout-for-future-airport-park/
- Redfin: Sunset Park, Santa Monica Housing Market. https://www.redfin.com/neighborhood/112699/CA/Santa-Monica/Sunset-Park/housing-market
- MDPI Land (2024): Nature's Neighborhood, The Housing Premium of Urban Parks. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/10/1686
- Journal of Housing Economics (2024): Does Easy Accessibility to Urban Parks Always Raise Home Values? https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1051137723000682
- Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. https://www.smmusd.org/
- Santa Monica Daily Press: Housing Advocates Push for Affordable Housing at Santa Monica Airport. https://www.smdp.com/housing-advocates-push-for-affordable-housing-at-santa-monica-airport/
- Santa Monica Next: How to Stuff 1,000 Acres of Hopes into 200 Acres of Land. https://santamonicanext.org/2026/04/gruber-how-to-stuff-1000-acres-of-hopes-into-200-acres-of-land/